Supergirl - SuperCorp- Next of Kin
by DKGWrites
Summary: A night out celebrating Kara's front page story ends tragically and sends Kara into a tailspin of rage. She'll need her family, question who matters most, and reveal some of Lena's secrets. As things seem to turn around, another player in the game shows their hand. Can the team hold it together when internal pressure is splitting them apart?
1. 1-Front Page News

Wearing a blue button-down shirt and tan sweater with her khaki slacks, Kara leaned back at her desk, smiling as she read the article she had written. Pen swirling along her lips, she barely stayed on the floor. Front page, she was front page material! This was career altering, life altering, and it was all her. Snapper had fought her tooth and nail on the story, snidely calling her Ponytail and reminding her how little confidence he had in her. She snapped her fingers at that memory. She didn't need his confidence. She had her own.

Excitedly she twirled in her chair, making three complete rotations before stopping and grabbing her cellphone. This called for a celebration. Celebrations needed friends and family. The phone rang three times before Alex picked up.

"Hey Kara, what's up?"

"Alex! Did you see my story?"

"Your story? No sweetie, I haven't had time to—"

"Front page, Alex, I made the front page!" That was followed by another chair rotation. "We have to celebrate."

"Uh, yes we do. I tell you what. As soon as Maggie—"

"Oh, is Maggie there?"

"Kara, breathe!" Alex took a breath of her own, glad she wasn't dealing with her little sister in person at the moment. This was the kind of enthusiasm that could be bone breaking. "Okay, you do remember where I am right now, don't you?"

"Ummm…oh!" Palm slapping her forehead, Kara squeezed her eyes closed. "Acapulco. Oh, I forgot Alex. You're going to Acapulco."

"Right, so in a few minutes, Maggie and I will be getting on a plane and flying someplace warm and sunny. We'll be gone for a week, but as soon as we get back, we'll be happy to celebrate with you."

"What are we celebrating?" Maggie asked as she walked up to her girlfriend, only having heard the very end of the conversation.

"Kara got a story published," Alex explained.

"Tell her it was front page!" Kara exclaimed yet again.

"It was front page," Alex added with much less enthusiasm.

"Awesome. Congrats, Little Danvers."

"Kara, Maggie says—"

"I heard her. Thanks, Maggie. So Alex, maybe I could fly down and see you guys, and we could celebrate. You know…" Kara cupped her hand over her phone as she looked around to make sure she wasn't being observed, then whispered, "…fly down."

"No," Alex said succinctly.

"No?"

"No, Kara, you are not joining Maggie and me on vacation." When Maggie made an odd face, Alex just shook her head assuredly. "Sweetie, I'm excited for you too, but Maggie and I have never had a vacation together. I barely take vacation. We have a hot tub in our room and don't plan on wearing bathing suits. You understand?"

"But Alex, don't you need…oh!" With a nervous smile, Kara asked, "So when will you two be back?"

"In a week. You think you can keep the city safe and manage to not explode with excitement while we're gone?"

Kara considered that. "The city, no problem. No promises on the exploding though."

"Look just—"

A voice came over the loudspeaker and Maggie and Alex both looked toward the gate.

"We gotta go," Maggie said.

"Okay. Kara, our flight is boarding. I'll call you later?"

"Okay," Kara said in a much more subdued fashion.

"Hey, I'm proud of you. I can't wait to read it. Bye."

"Bye," Kara replied, disconnecting the call and leaning back in her chair again, but with a slightly different outlook.

Celebrating was supposed to be about friends and family, and now Alex and Maggie were gone for a week. So much for family. Perking up a little bit, she realized it didn't rule out friends. Grabbing her phone, Kara pushed another contact and wasn't surprised to hear a nearly immediate answer.

"Hello, Kara. What can I do you for today?"

"Winn! Did you see my story!?"

"Your story?" There was the sound of keys clicking, clearly audible to Kara across the line and then Winn said, "Oh yeah, your story. Look at that. Hey, front page. Way to go! Huh, why didn't James mention this?"

"He didn't?"

"Not to me. Maybe he doesn't know," Winn pointed out.

"He knows. He definitely knows," Kara assured Winn and herself. "Hey, anyway, go out with me and celebrate tonight?"

"Ooohhh, not tonight. I wish I could, but with Alex out of the country and J'onn undercover, I'm holding down the fort. Hey, when Alex is back I'm definitely free though. Next week?"

"Next week?" Kara asked flatly.

"Absolutely. I'll put something on your calendar. It will be fun."

"Awesome." She sighed because it wasn't. "I guess I'll call James."

"He's busy tonight," Winn informed her.

"He can't even tell me that himself?"

"He's working with me, but you can call him if you want. I mean—"

"It's fine. Thanks, Winn. Bye."

"Bye, Kara."

Sitting back in her chair, the smile gone as she pouted, Kara began to rethink how inappropriate it would be for her to drop in on her sister and Maggie in Acapulco. They couldn't spend the whole vacation on the beach in swimsuits, or in the hotel room, not in swimsuits…right? Her cellphone rang, and she glanced over at it, sitting upright when she saw the familiar name.

Smile returning, Kara answered and said, "Lena, hi!"

"Guess what I'm sitting here reading," Lena said without skipping a beat.

It was almost too much to hope, so Kara said, "I…I don't know, what?"

"A certain front page article from my favorite reporter. Usually, she calls me for the exclusive, but this time I was hoping to get one."

Biting her lower lip, Kara spun in her chair again. "I don't know about an exclusive, but I'm sure I can supply you a quote. It's amazing!"

"It is. It is. I agree and quite well written. I do have to admit to being a bit worried though," Lena added, a touch of concern edging into her voice.

Immediately Kara's brows furrowed. "Worried? About what?"

"Why Kara, you're taking on a major criminal family with this article. I'm worried for your safety. Have you spoken to the police about protection?"

Kara relaxed immediately, responding with a small laugh. "Oh, no. I'm not worried about that. I mean, sure, I blew the lid off a huge criminal underground movement with ties overseas, but I'm fine, just fine."

"That sounds like a reason for concern to me. I could make some calls. We have some of the best security in the business. Why don't I send someone to—?"

"No! I mean…no," Kara tried to sound casual. She couldn't do her job, the one where she protected the city, if she had some kind of bodyguard following her around. "Lena, don't worry. I worked on this story for a long time, and the police were heavily involved. Before I released this, I made sure they had what they needed from me to move in and make arrests. No, these guys have either been scooped up or have fled town, probably the country by now. The police aren't worried, and neither am I. I'm completely safe." Silently Kara mouthed. 'And bulletproof.'

"Well, if you're sure," Lena replied sounding slightly less worried though not completely convinced. "I trust that you and the police have things well in hand. It truly was a fabulous article."

"Wasn't it?" Kara asked, her glee undisguised.

"Yes, truly. Well, I'm sure you have people lined up to wish you well, likely appointments into next week, but when your schedule clears up, I'd love to be on that list. Why don't you call me and we can—"

"I'm free tonight."

"Tonight?"

"Yup."

"Oh." Lena seemed to be considering that before she said, "Well, that's surprising. I mean, wonderful for me. Yes, that's wonderful. There's this new club downtown I've been meaning to look in on, but no good reason to go. You, Kara Danvers, are a good reason, a very good reason indeed. Should we say 7:30?"

Kara was nodding, pushing up her glasses with one finger, and had to speak her reply. "That sounds great. I'm really looking forward to it."

"So am I. I'll send a car for you. Dress…up. Tonight we're celebrating."

"Yes, we are," Kara replied.

"Well, I'm certainly glad I called," Lena added. "Goodbye, Kara. I'll see you at 7:30."

"I'm glad too. See you then. Bye, Lena."

Phone on her desk and biting her lip again, Kara spun her chair around. What struck her the oddest wasn't that she felt like Lena had saved her night by calling and making plans. Kara felt like this was the best possible outcome, like a night celebrating with just Lena, would be the right type of celebration. Lena had said it once, that Lena had never had a friend like Kara, had never had family like Kara. Kara supposed she was starting to see Lena was more than just a friend too.

The flowers that had shown up at Kara's office had been quite the surprise, but much less so when she saw they came from Lena. The card with the two dozen long stem roses read, "Journalism can never be silent: that is its greatest virtue and its greatest fault. It must speak, and speak immediately, while the echoes of wonder, the claims of triumph and the signs of horror are still in the air." Reading it, Kara smiled. It was a quote by Henry Anatole Grunwald, and she knew it well. It appealed to her both in its stark truth and in the way it made her feel seen by the sender.

Right at 7:30 the car arrived and Kara had to do a quick change to get ready. She'd spent so much time trying to get the perfect outfit, yet nothing seemed perfect. Luckily for her, a quick change was a very quick change. The dress she finally chose was white with tank top straps, and then a gap with off the shoulder capped sleeves. It had a plunging sweetheart neckline and fitted bodice. The rest of the dress was loose, hanging to mid-calf. It felt comfortable and looked flattering. She'd almost grabbed a pair of heels to go with it, but Lena had said club and club meant dancing. Even to Supergirl, heels weren't a good choice for a long night at a club.

She was dressed and down the stairs in half a minute, surprised to see a limo waiting for her, but only momentarily. When you had plans with Lena Luthor, arriving in anything less than a limo or a Rolls Royce likely meant flying under the radar. A Bentley would do too.

Climbing into the back next to Lena, Kara hugged the other woman and said, "There are flowers in my office again."

"Really?" Lena replied, feigning shock. Her dress was red strips from just above the knee to just above the breast. There the material became sheer and was covered with small crystals. It came up around her neck, covering several inches, but was sleeveless leaving her exposed there. "You're beginning to make a habit of that. Maybe you have a thing for flowers."

"Maybe I do, and great taste in friends."

Lena smiled, her lower lip rubbing along her teeth at the compliment or perhaps at what she wasn't saying in return. Grabbing a pen and Kara's article from the seat next to her, Lena handed them both over to the blonde and said, "Miss Danvers, could I bother you for an autograph if your hand isn't too cramped up from signing your name all day?"

"You want **my** autograph!?" Kara replied with a laugh, her free hand to her chest. "You're much more famous than I am. I think I should be asking you for yours."

It was Lena's turn to laugh. "Kara, the only time anyone wants my autograph is when it's on the bottom right-hand corner of a check. No, I want you to sign and date this. This is getting framed in my office. In twenty years people will ask if I actually know you, and I'll be able to say that I knew you before you were THE Kara Danvers."

"I'm going to be that famous?" Kara asked incredulously.

"I guarantee it. I wouldn't bet against me."

Pushing up her glasses Kara smiled and laughed as she signed and dated the article. She held it out to Lena, then pulled it back when the dark-haired woman went to take it. "Wait a minute. If I'm going to be THAT famous, maybe I should trade it for one of your signatures…on the bottom right-hand corner of a check." Kara's smile grew.

Lena smiled in return. "How about I buy drinks tonight?"

"Deal," Kara said, handing over the article immediately.

"The Out Crowd?" Kara stood staring at the neon sign, faux flames moving hypnotically in a dance that made Kara look forward to the music within. "I heard about this place. It's supposed to be impossible to get into Out," Kara added, grinning over at Lena as the other woman slid from the back of the limo.

"Impossible, well…I've found that word to be overused. I prefer to think of it as challenging, and I do love a challenge."

"Oh, I've not doubt of that," Kara replied.

She followed Lena up to the front of the club. A long line of people, all hopeful to be allowed in, stretched across the front of the club and curled around the back, disappearing out of sight. Looking at that, Kara thought impossible looked like a pretty good word. Two men stood by the front door, each with upper arms as thick as her waist and forearms the size of her thighs, maybe bigger. Their necks were…scratch that. They didn't have necks. Their heads went straight down to disappear into their massive shoulders. Even as super as Kara was, she found the duo a bit intimidating. It took a moment of self-assessment to remember that no matter how physically strong the human, they were still just human. However, they'd do a good job of holding back anyone who wasn't interested in following the rules and staying outside.

A black, velvet rope stood between them and the entrance. Lena merely stopped at the rope, holding one hand up and gesturing with two fingers for the nearest gorilla to move closer. He eyed her dubiously but came closer, his clipboard in hand. She lay a hand on his arm and leaned closer, whispering something in his ear. Kara was tempted to listen in especially when the man's eyebrows rose high. When he stepped back, removing the rope and stepping to the side, Kara wished she had listened in.

Turning, her red lips parting as her smile grew, Lena tipped her head to the side encouraging Kara to follow as she walked into the club. "Impossible? I didn't think so."

"Maybe you just don't know what it means," Kara said as she took a few hurried steps to catch up, trying to avoid eye contact with those left outside.

"That could be," Lena admitted. "Don't go buying me a dictionary for Christmas. I've also heard from a few business associates I don't know what the word 'no' means either. I didn't become the success I am by being able to define either of those words. I don't intend to find out now."

"Check, change my shopping list for Lena's Christmas present."

Just inside the club, Lena stopped suddenly and turned to face Kara. Her face had changed, that smile and air of confidence both gone. She shook her head several times before speaking. There was a sense of nervousness to her now and something else, something younger. Kara had seen it on occasion but rarely. Each time Kara saw it, there was something that said this was the real Lena.

"No, I…Kara, I wasn't fishing for a gift. You understand that, don't you? I don't want you to think that I was…" Hands twisting together, Lena struggled for the right words.

"Oh, Lena," Kara replied, her hand reaching across the space to cover both of Lena's and still the fidgeting. "We're friends. Friends buy each other gifts. You're getting a Christmas present. It won't be a dictionary…probably. I'm a reporter though so…we'll see. I do like my words."

At Kara's words, Lena relaxed snagging the other woman's hand in both of hers, just fingertips in fingertips. Her strength and confidence seemed to return. "Well, if you get me a dictionary I'll be ripping out at least two pages. You've been warned. Anyway, if I want to read I'd rather read something you wrote." They both smiled for a moment and then Lena added. "Come on. Let's go get a drink."

"Sure since you're paying and I'm celebrating."

"I am, and we're both celebrating," Lena added.

The club was set up with a wide foyer near the entrance and another set of double doors leading into the club. Kara and Lena could hear the music in the foyer. When they opened the doors into the club proper, they could feel it. Sounded bounced off of them and lights crashed, making for a wild display. To either side, tables with tall chairs were packed with club goers. A bar was spread out in front of them, and beyond that, a crowded dance floor thrashed with moving bodies. There were several large, plastic tubes stretching floor to ceiling which drew Kara's curiosity. Using her x-ray vision, she looked above them. There was a second floor of tables with even more club goers. As she watched a person went to one of the tubes, climbing in and hitting a button which allowed them to descend fairly quickly, though with a base like a moving floor. It was a single person elevator with curved, clear walls. Kara imagined there were safeties that didn't allow someone in on the bottom if someone else come in on top and vice-versa.

"Checking out the chutes?"

"Hmmm?" Kara looked at Lena, pulled from her exploration.

"The chutes, their travel system. It looks like a lot more fun than stairs if you aren't afraid of heights. Are you?"

"Well…" Kara smiled nervously. "I'm not exactly fond of them. I don't mind elevators, but you can't see all around you in an elevator. That doesn't look safe."

"Oh, it's perfectly safe. Two people can go in one at once. Come on. Let's go grab drinks. Later, when you're feeling more relaxed. We'll take a ride together, all right?"

Kara nodded, then rolled her eyes at herself when Lena walked away and toward the bar.

They grabbed drinks then headed off to look for a seat. Kara was pleased but not overly surprised to see there was a table reserved for them. What did surprise her was that it was reserved with the name 'K. Danvers', in her name, not Lena's.

"Oh, now my name has clout in this town?" Kara asked holding up the folding cardboard sing with her name on it.

Lena shrugged as she slid into her seat. "How do you think we got past the line out there? The Luthor name only allows you the skip the line when you're waiting for your court date for trial. The Danvers name though, the name Kara Danvers star reporter, now that has cred."

"You're teasing me," Kara said tossing the sign on the table and hopping up into her own chair.

"Not at all. You just underestimate your own value. You're a marketable commodity. Ugh! Did I just say that? I apologize. I sound like my mother. People are not commodities."

"You know you couldn't sound like your mother, don't you Lena?"

"We all sound like our parents. We may not mean to, but their words get into our brains and affect us on a subconscious level. I try and do better, but I'm a Luthor. There's a reason this city won't let me forget it. I can't forget it."

Kara thought about that for a moment. Who was she really? Was she her mother's daughter, last daughter of Krypton, or was she the person who'd come to this world and made her own life? She knew who she wanted to be, and she believed she was at choice about that. None of us was free from any of the influences in our lives, but they didn't have to define us.

As she watched Lena stare into her drink, Kara slid a hand across the table and onto one of Lena's. "Hey." When Lena looked up, Kara smiled. "I don't think of you as a Luthor. I know you are one, but that's not who you are to me. You're Lena. When I look at you, when I think of you, all I see is my friend Lena. We've all been labeled. I know I have. You can't stop people from doing that, but it doesn't stop you from being who you truly are and having people in your life who see that."

Her smile growing the whole time Kara spoke, Lena slid her other hand over Kara's until Kara's was sandwiched in between. "I wish I could see myself through your eyes. I think I'd like that person."

"Well then, you're just going to have the keep me around."

"Well then, I guess I will," Lena replied.

Drinking was followed by dancing was followed by another round of drinks. Kara added in two orders of appetizers, most of which she ate. With super powers came a super metabolism. They were both smiling, laughing, Kara's bad mood from earlier in the day a distant memory. After food, they decided on more dancing which left Kara hungry once again. She grabbed more appetizers and drinks for them both while Lena used the restroom.

Kara had just returned to the table when someone said her name, making her turn.

"Kara Danvers?"

"Yes?" Kara asked sucking barbecue sauce from her chicken wings from her fingers as she stood and turned.

"I thought I recognized you." The man smiled broadly. He was in his mid-thirties, dark hair and tan skin. He wore a jacket over his t-shirt, both which strained slightly over his muscles, and his brown hair was very closely cut. "I read your articles. It was enlightening. I was just telling my buddy that it was you in the club, but he didn't believe me." He held up Kara's article, pulling a pen from his back pocket. "Any chance I could get an autograph?"

"Really? Sure," Kara said, pushing up her glass. "You really liked it?"

"Like isn't the word," the man replied as Kara took the article and turned, laying it on the table to sign her name. "All of my friends read this, and we've all been talking about it. It's all anyone's been talking about."

"Awww, you have no idea what that means to me."

"No, you have no idea what meeting you means to me…no idea at all," he replied.

Kara smiled, signing and writing a quote. She thought about what her future would be like, signing things and being not just the one to take quotes, but to make them. She was so busy thinking about the future that she lost sight of the present. As the man behind her pulled the gun out from his waistband behind him, Kara smiled and wrote. Feet away, Lena froze seeing her friend about to be shot.

"Here you go. I hope you and your—"

There were two shots, loud and sharp even across the crash of music in the club. Kara's head whipped left and right even as people began to scream and run. There had been so many club shootings, so many hate crimes, with this atmosphere of late. It didn't take much to set off a panic, and actual gunfire was more than enough. As the man ran off, Kara watched her friend slump to the ground. Supergirl, the girl of steel, the fastest woman on the planet, stood frozen for several heartbeats. She didn't even notice the fleeing man. She only had eyes for one person.

"Lena!" As her sense returned, Kara was over Lena with a hand to her friend's abdomen. Blood was pouring from the bullet holes. Seeing this, understanding what was happening, there was still some part of Kara that couldn't process it. Lena couldn't be shot. Lena couldn't be hurt. None of this made sense. "Lena, are you…don't move. Just don't move. You're going to be all right. Can you hear me?"

Lena's breath came in gasps. Pain surged through her body and shock was setting in. She tried to speak, but the words were beyond her right now. Grabbing Kara's arm, Lena stared into her friend's eyes and hoped.

"We've got to get you out of here," Kara said. She looked around, seeing security cameras everywhere and knowing she'd be outing herself as Supergirl to the world if she did what she wanted to do and flew Lena to the hospital. Instead, she grabbed the tablecloth, pulling it loose and wrapping Lena's torso with it to provide pressure. Then she picked Lena up, carrying her from the club. Later, if anyone questioned it, she'd say adrenaline was an amazing thing. Getting Lena to safety was all that mattered.

Her plan was to duck into an alley and then go straight to the hospital, but Lena's driver was waiting for them. Her signaled Kara over. Holding the limo door open. Though hesitant, Kara climbed into the back with Lena.

"She's been shot!" Kara barked out. "We need to get her to National City Hospital now!"

As the car lurched forward, Kara x-rayed Lena's body. Both bullets were still inside. All she could do was hold pressure until they got her friend to medical professionals. It wasn't enough. The only thing that would be was turning back time.


	2. 2-Durable Power of Attorney

"I need a doctor! My friend's been shot!" Kara crashed through the doors to the emergency room, Lena's body once again in her arms, demanding attention. She got it. Doctors and nurses rushed into action, organized chaos at its finest. In less than a minute, Lena was on a stretcher, a medical professional holding pressure and vitals being taken. Even while they worked on Lena, Kara stood nearby worrying, terrified. She'd faced down some of the most fearsome things on this planet but never before had she felt so completely powerless.

"Okay, let's get her into surgery," a doctor said.

Grabbing the doctor's arm when the woman tried to walk away, Kara said, "Hey, her last name is Luthor. I bet you have a wing in this placed named after that family. You keep her alive; I bet you'll have another one."

The doctor tried to pull away, but Kara's grip was quite literally like iron, so the doctor just nodded until she let go.

Kara followed the stretcher with Lena on it until she reached a double door and a nurse barred her way.

"You have to stay out here," the nurse told Kara.

"But she's my friend."

"I know. She'll have the best nurses and doctors looking after her now. Let them do their job. Someone will come back and talk to you. We'll need some paperwork filled out. We'll need to get in touch with her next of kin. You can help with that. Just wait here."

As the nurse walked away, Kara thought about that. Who was Lena's next of kin? Was it her brother Lex the criminal? Was it her mother Lillian who had recently escaped from jail? Who did Lena have? Did she have anyone to make decisions for her? Was there anyone who was legally allowed to show up in this kind of situation? Sure there was a board of trustees for the business, but who was her person? Kara needed to find out.

Briefly, Kara looked for her purse before realizing she'd left it at the club. If Lena survived… No! Lena would survive, so Kara had time to make this an in-person visit. She hurried out of the hospital and ducked into an alley, heading skyward.

"Winn!"

"Hey, Kara didn't expect to see you…holy Carrie at the prom! What happened to you!?"

Kara looked down at herself. The center of her white dress was covered in blood, Lena's blood. Her hands were in the same state. Her hair which had been in a lovely up-do earlier in the night was now bedraggled, the occasional piece still hanging errantly from a bobby pin. As awful as she looked, she knew it was nothing.

"Lena's been shot," Kara said flatly.

"Come again?"

"Lena's been shot!" Kara said loudly, striding toward Winn. "She and I went out to celebrate my article, and someone shot her. I don't know why, but I can only imagine it had something to do with her mother. Any time Lena's life goes sideways, Lillian is at the center. I need you to do something for me."

"Yeah, sure anything," Winn said, nodding as he sat up. "What do you need?"

"I need to know who Lena's next of kin is."

"Oh, well I expect it's her…" Winn considered his next words. "Damn. How bad is she?"

"I'm asking you who her next of kin is. How bad do you think she is?"

Winn nodded, his brows furrowed as he turned to his screen. "You know who it should be, but I imagine Lena was smart enough to change that. Does she have any other family?"

"Lex." Kara shrugged. "There have got to be people somewhere. They have money, so I'm sure they'll come crawling out of the woodwork."

"You mean if Lena doesn't…" Winn stopped speaking, turning to look at Kara. It wasn't heat vision, but her glare nearly burned him. "She'll be fine."

"Yes, she will," Kara agreed. "She might need some decisions made for her until she is back to 100%, and I need to know who makes those decisions."

"Okay, next of kin is…well, there's a Lori and she's set for a substantial inheritance if Lena…huh, it's all in a trust though."

"Who's Lori?"

Winn shrugged. "No idea. She isn't listed as the power of attorney."

"Winn, who is she?" Kara repeated.

"I don't know, Kara. It looks like she's a teacher. I have an address for a school out in Switzerland. Lena's never mentioned a Lori?"

Kara shook her head.

"Weird. Could be this one is separate from the rest of the Luthors. Maybe this one will turn out okay."

Arms crossed, Kara ignored the snide swipe at her friend, even a peripheral swipe. When this was over, she'd deal with it. Not all Luthors were the same. "Who else?"

"Found it," Win declared. "Lena has a durable power of attorney. This is what you need. Drumroll please?" Win paused. "No drumroll?"

"My friend's in surgery."

"Right, sorry. Uh…the board makes decisions."

"No, Winn, I don't want to know about the business. I want to know what happens to Lena personally. Where is her personal durable power of attorney," Kara explained again.

"Kara, this is it. It spells it out here that, in the case of her being incapacitated, the board should make decisions for her on a business and personal basis. She's put her life in their hands."

"You're kidding," Kara said rushing the screen and shoving Winn, chair and all, several feet to the side.

"Well, better them then Lillian."

"Yeah but…" Kara shook her head. "Lillian probably still has people inside Lena's company. They could stage a coup. What if she's put on life support? Someone could pull the plug on her. Winn, we need to fix this."

With a half-laugh, Winn replied, "What do you want me to do, change her power of attorney?"

"Yes. You can do that. Do that Winn." Grabbing his chair, Kara hauled him back in front of the screen again. "Change it."

"You're kidding, right?"

Head shaking, Kara tapped at the screen.

"You do realize that's illegal, don't you?"

"Half of the things we do are illegal. Every movie you own is illegal. Do you know how many FBI fines—?"

"Hey! Hey!" Winn stood, hands in front of Kara's face while he looked around to make sure no one else was nearby. "You said you wouldn't mention that. Anyway, I provide reviews before the movies come out. It's a service."

"It's a crime. This could be saving Lena's life. Winn, I need your help."

Sighing, Winn nodded and got to work. Kara hovered. She stood behind Winn, walked around, looked over his shoulder, practically wore a line behind him as she marched back and forth impatiently, and at points she literally hovered in the air behind him. None of it moved the process along, but she was beyond patient. She needed this and needed to get back to the hospital with this before Lena was out of surgery. Lena needed this. Lena, it was all about Lena.

As the document started printing out, Kara practically appeared in front of the printer. "Come on. Come on. Is this as fast as this thing can go?"

"Kara, it's just a printer. Let it do its thing. You can't rush it."

"I could write it out faster than this by hand." She looked over her shoulder at Winn. "I really could."

"Yes, but it wouldn't have an official seal on it then or Lena's signature. You realize we forged a judge's signature on this, don't you? That's a federal crime."

"Like illegally copying videos?" Kara shot back.

"Shhh!" Winn held up his hands in front of him. "Enough with that already. The eyes and ears of the law are everywhere around here." As Kara grabbed the documents off the printer, he added, "Okay, so I'm really sticking my neck out for you. I put myself down as the witness. You're listed as her next of kin, just like you wanted. I had to make you—"

"Perfect! I've got to go. Thanks, Winn! Oh, also, I need the security video of tonight from inside the Club 'The Out Crowd.' We need to see that shooter and track him down, find out why he went after Lena. I want to find him before he leaves town. I've got to get back to the hospital."

Between blinks, she was gone, and Winn sat there with his mouth open wanting to add more but not doing it to an empty room.

Back at the hospital, Kara's nervous energy was eating away at her last nerve. She'd made the mistake of looking in on the surgery once, using x-ray vision to look through walls and people alike until she found Lena. Seeing Lena like that, tubes down her throat forcing air in and out, bags of blood replacing that which poured out of the woman's body, it was almost too much for the woman of steel. Sliding down the wall until she hit the floor, tears had covered Kara's eyes but not taken away that image in her mind. Lena was strong, proud, indomitable. What Kara had just seen looked like little but a shell. Kara sat on the floor, arms across her knees and head resting there, her tears falling freely as she did something she hadn't done in years. She prayed.

"Miss Danvers?"

Head popping up, Kara stared at the surgeon standing near her. He looked exhausted, just like she felt. His face gave away nothing else though, nothing that told her he was here to give words of comfort or…comfort she supposed. Either way, he'd try to comfort her. If Lena didn't make it, Kara couldn't imagine any comfort in this world.

"How…?" Kara pushed back up the wall standing on shaky legs. "How is…?" She tried again, but the tears had started once again, and her voice was now trembling as much as her legs. Pushing her fingers under her glasses, she rubbed at the tears to try and clear her vision. She could do this. She had to ask. Taking a breath, she finally looked at him and asked, "How is she?"

He nodded, "Alive. She came through the surgery, but she's lost a lot of blood. Will you come with me, please? I'd like to discuss her situation with you somewhere private."

Kara nodded, not understanding but grabbing hold of the world alive like a drowning woman would a piece of driftwood in the ocean. It was her lifeline. Lena was alive. She'd come through surgery. Everything else they'd deal with.

They entered a small room with two chairs and a small table in the middle. There was nothing else but a tissue box sitting out on the table. All of Kara's instincts told her this room was the place where people got bad news, but Lena was alive. Alive was good news, and she was going to focus on that.

Sitting and gesturing toward the other chair, the doctor waited until Kara sat to begin speaking. "Miss Danvers, I want to be upfront with you. Miss Luthor came through surgery, but as I said she's lost a lot of blood. She's in critical condition. The next forty-eight hours will be…we'll be watching her."

"What does that mean?" Kara asked, her heart rate picking up.

"She survived the surgery, but whether or not she pulls through, whether or not she wakes up, we'll have to wait and see."

Kara was on her feet, staring down at the surgeon. "Lena's a fighter. All she needs is a chance. She'll wake up. Don't count her out."

He held up a hand, trying to calm Kara. "I'm not saying it's impossible but—"

"Good, because Lena doesn't know the meaning of the word impossible, so don't try and tell her what it means. She'll wake up." Arms crossed, Kara stared defiantly.

The doctor sighed as he stood. "All right Miss Danvers. You won't get an argument here. I hope your partner has half the fighting spirit you have because she'll need it."

"My what?"

After a moment of confusion, the surgeon replied, "Your partner? Miss Luthor, your domestic partner. I was told that was how you were listed on her durable power of attorney."

'I'm going to kill Winn,' Kara thought, then nodded and replied, "Right, we uh…don't use that word."

"Oh, well your girlfriend then. Whatever word you prefer is fine. Just let the nursing staff know. We write the name of the on shift nurse on her board, but given who you…girlfriend?" The surgeon waited for Kara's nod at his word choice to continue. "Given who your girlfriend is, I expect you'll be bringing in private nursing also. The decision is up to you though."

"Right, it's my decision," Kara said mainly to herself.

"Let us know if there's anything we can do. She'll be in the ICU, and that's immediate family only. I'll have someone come and get you and bring you to her."

"Because I'm her family," Kara said with a slow nod.

Slowly, the surgeon nodded back.

Relaxing the slightest bit, Kara said, "Thank you, doctor. I'm sorry if I've been…I'm scared."

"Of course you are. Someone you love is in peril. That would frighten anyone. You're only human. Please, wait here for a few moments, and I'll have someone come and get you. Do you need to call anyone?"

"I…" Kara was hung up on the word 'love' and shook her head, mainly to clear it. "No, my sister is out of the country with her girlfriend. Right now it's just me, and Lena doesn't have any other family."

"Well, it's good she has you."

"Yes, she does."

It was nearly twenty minutes before someone came to get Kara and bring her to Lena's room in the ICU, but it felt like hours at least to Kara. As soon as she got to the room, she almost wished she was still outside. Lena was hooked up to machines, leads measuring her blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing. Electronic beeps marched out ever moment of her friend's life. The worst was the slow whoosh of the machine that pushed air in and out of Lena's lungs because she couldn't do it herself.

Sliding into the chair set up next to the bed, Kara reached out to take Lena's hand. It was covered in tubes and tape, making Kara hesitate. She pulled back her hand, flexing twice, then slid her hand forward covering Lena's. Cold, Lena was cold yet beyond caring. Still, Kara instantly covered Lena's hand with her other one, offering more warmth. It wasn't more than a gesture, but she'd do the little bit that she could. Lying her head on the bed next to Lena's arm Kara closed her eyes and listened to the beeps, the whoosh, then she listened more closely until she could hear Lena's heart. It was slow but steady and strong. That was what she needed to hear, that strong heart beating. Eventually, she fell asleep listening to the sounds of the hospital and her friend's life.

"Kara. Kara. Kara."

As a hand shook her shoulder, Kara lifted her head and looked up into a familiar face. "J'onn? What's…?" Memory returned, and she sat up, looking at Lena in the hospital bed. "Oh. It wasn't a nightmare. J'onn, how did you get in here? It's family only."

"How did I impersonate a hospital employee and sneak into a patient's room?" J'onn asked.

"Oh, right." Kara rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

"Why are you here if it's family only. What exactly happened?"

"Lena's been shot."

"I know that. Winn has the security footage from the club, and he's going through it. I came off my detail when I checked in, and he gave me the update. Who tried to kill her?"

"Honestly, I don't know. I heard gunshots, but when I turned around people were running, and all I saw was Lena falling. I can't believe it was random though. Lillian must have been behind this."

"Your plan is to sit here until Lena leaves the hospital?" J'onn asked.

"If I have to."

"You have other responsibilities."

"Lena's my friend. She needs my help, and that makes her my first responsibility. Until I know she's safe; I'm not going anywhere."

Looking over at Lena, J'onn considered the situation. "I'll have Winn put a rush on the video. We'll do what we can, but Kara, if a threat comes in and your help is needed, I expect to see you handle it."

"Just get me what you can off that surveillance video. When Lena's safe, then National City can have my attention again."

Instead of saying what he wanted to say, J'onn pointed to a bag sitting on a nearby chair. "We recovered your purse from the nightclub, and I brought you a change of clothes. Winn said yours looked…worn. Change into something that won't get the police called. I'll call you."

As he walked away, Kara said, "J'onn? Thanks."

Without turning, he nodded once, then shifted to look like one of the nurses as he left the room.

It was hours later when Kara's phone rang. She'd slept on and off in a chair which was also a makeshift bed. It was more chair than bed in her opinion, but then again sleep didn't come easily and when it did come it was filled with unpleasant dreams. The waking was even worse, finding that the dreams were reality, that Lena might never wake up.

"Winn!" Kara answered her phone urgently, hoping for some answers. "What do you have for me?"

"Well, I've gone through the video and…"

Kara waited, but after several moments of silence, she said, "And what? Winn, what is it? Do you know who tried to kill Lena?"

"Actually, no one did."

"I was there Winn. Someone shot her." She turned, focusing on the woman in the hospital bed. "I'm looking at her right now. Someone tried to kill her, and they very nearly did it. The doctor said…" She exhaled slowly, unable to continue that thought. "I want to see the video."

"Look, Kara, I—"

"Send it to me. You can do that, right?"

"Well I can," Winn admitted.

"Then do it. Thanks, Winn."

Kara disconnected the call without saying another word and waited. She didn't have to wait long. In less than a minute the video arrived. It was only about forty seconds long, so just a snippet of what happened that night and it had no audio. Kara could see herself talking to the man who asked for her autograph. She smiled, took the article he handed her and turned around. She was nodding and writing. She remembered all of that. Somewhere in there, while her back was turned, the shooter showed up. Off to the side, she saw Lena moving toward the table. It would be soon now. Then she saw it, the man who had asked for her autograph pulled a gun from behind his back and pointed it at…he was pointing it at her. No one was trying to kill Lena. He was trying to kill her. Gun pointed the man stood there, and then Lena rushed him, grabbing the gun and getting between her and the gunman. Kara saw herself turn just as Lena was falling and people were running. That must have been when the shots were fired. That was when Lena got between her and a gun, not knowing who she was, and trying to save her life.

Pressing the phone to her breast, Kara leaned back and closed her eyes. Lena had jumped between her and a gun, had taken bullets for her. That was more than friendship. That was family. Right now though, that was guilt. It was her fault that Lena was like this. Okay, maybe not her fault but definitely her responsibility. The person at fault was the man who pulled the trigger, and Kara meant to find him. She'd seen his face, heard his voice, and he wouldn't get far.

Walking up to the nurse's station, Kara spoke to the nurse on duty there. "Excuse me. I need to go out for a little while. I'm just going to walk around the block stretch my legs, that sort of thing. If anything changes in her condition, anything at all, just call my phone. I can be back in a minute. You have my cell number, right?"

The nurse nodded. "We have your contact information on record, Miss Danvers. If anything changes, or if we need your permission for anything, we'll call you."

"All right, thank you. Oh, and don't let anyone in to see her while I'm gone. That includes family, especially family. Understood?"

The nurse nodded slowly.

"Thank you."

The hospital roof proved the best place for a quick change and storage of her street clothes. From there she could easily take to the air. She headed downtown to some of the worse areas and started asking around. Someone must know something about the nightclub shooting. No one seemed eager to talk. She threatened, and people knew she was physically capable of following up on those threats, but her good girl reputation seemed to have proceeded her. Though she could hurt these people, no one believed she would. Worse yet, they were scared of whoever did the shooting. They thought he would hurt or kill them if they talked.

Hours later, having found only frustration, Kara returned to the hospital roof, changed, and then went back to Lena's room. She was there alone for maybe an hour before a text came in on her phone. The number was unfamiliar, but the subject immediately got her attention.

Unknown Number: "Do you want to know who shot Lena?"

Kara: "Who is this?"

Unknown Number: "That isn't the question. Do you want to know who shot Lena?"

Kara paused. This was probably a trap. The person who shot Lena was actually after her, and now some unknown person was texting her. Most likely this was a trap to kill her. If someone was trying to kill her by shooting her, they weren't going to have any luck. The simplest answer, the easiest way to find out who was behind this, was simple.

Kara: "Yes."

Unknown Number: "Come meet me in twenty minutes and come alone. If I see anyone else, I won't show up. Understand?"

Kara: "Yes."

Immediately the number texted back an address. Kara was tempted to reach out to Winn and have him trace the cellphone, but she didn't need his help. Anyway, she didn't want anyone's help. When she found the person who shot Lena, Kara was going to deal with him herself. Other people would only get in the way.

Kara had just enough time to get from the hospital to the address she was given. She carefully squeezed Lena's hand before she left, stopping only to check in at the nurse's station and make sure they'd contact her with any changes. She hurriedly headed out, not wanting to be late. Arriving at the address given with a minute to spare.

Kara looked around but didn't see anyone immediately. It was a three bedroom apartment, and she'd been given the address for the top floor. She headed up, finding the door ajar and no one inside. It was a normal looking apartment set up save for the lawn chair in the center of the living room. On the chair was a note that said, 'Take a seat and relax.'

"Huh." Kara looked around, using her x-ray vision. She saw no one else in the apartment, but across the way, she could see someone watching her with binoculars. She saw several weapons in the apartment, but none of them were trained on her. Nodding, Kara tossed the note to the side and took a seat, listening closely to the person across the way. As soon as she heard that trigger pull, she needed to be out of the way. She couldn't explain Kara Danvers being bulletproof.

About twenty minutes later, the only danger anyone was in was of dying from boredom. Kara had looked around twice, using her vision to verify the person was still across the way watching her. That person was. No one had slipped away. Kara was just about ready to go across the street herself when the observer finally moved, heading for the exit from the other apartment. Kara kept an eye on the other person, watching them through buildings while they made their way across the street and all the way up to the third floor of this building, pushing open the door to the apartment where Kara sat.

"You came alone. I'm impressed…or maybe that makes you an idiot. You do know someone is trying to kill you, don't you?"

Slowly standing, Kara said, "Lillian?"

Pushing back the hood from her head, Lena's mother nodded. "Yes. I suppose I should thank you for getting my daughter to the hospital and saving her life. That would be the right maternal response." Lillian walked across the room, taking a seat on the couch. She slid a hand underneath and pulled out a manila envelope. "Here. You'll want this."

"Did you try to kill me?" Kara asked.

"Me? Why would I try to kill you? What do you matter to me? Here, take this," Lillian said shaking the envelope.

"What is it?" Kara asked taking the envelope and opening it.

"Andri Kastrati."

"What's an Andri Kastrati?" Kara asked as she went through the envelope, immediately recognizing the picture of the man she'd met in the club, the one who'd asked for her to sign his copy of her article.

"Andri Kastrati is muscle working for the Dushku family," Lillian explained.

"Dushku?" Kara's head popped up, her mouth going dry.

"They're an organized crime family—"

"I know who they are," Kara said looking back at the man's photo. "I wrote an article exposing their organization. He works for them?"

"He's no one important, but yes, he works for them. So that's why he tried to kill you?"

Kara nodded but didn't look up.

"How did my daughter get herself in the way?"

"She…" This time Kara did look up, tears blurring her vision. "She saw the man with the gun. My back was turned, and she saw the man with the gun and…"

Lillian waited to see if there would be more, but when Kara couldn't continue, she shrugged and said, "Well, that was stupid. I thought Lena was smarter than that. I blame that on her birth mother's DNA. At any rate, Kastrati's usual haunts are in there along with his associates. I trust you can use that to track him down or take it to the police or something. I would but…they might want to speak with me about other matters."

Kara nodded, shoving fingers under her glasses to wipe her eyes. "You're wanted by the police. I need to call them. You can't go anywhere."

"Oh darling, please. I just helped you. Go catch the person who shot my daughter and wants you dead." Standing, Lillian made a shooing motion with her hand. "Go run off and be a good little reporter."

"You're in town now, and Supergirl will find you. You won't get far."

"In town? Darling, I never left." Lillian headed toward the door but stopped after a few steps. "Kara, how's my daughter?"

"The doctors say she may never wake up."

At that Lilian turned. "Oh, she'll wake up. She's a Luthor."

"She's not like you. She's strong, but she's good. She's nothing like you."

Walking back to Kara, Lillian stopped too close to Kara's comfort zone, staring into the blonde's eyes for several moments before a smile grew on the older woman's face. "Well then, if she has you truly believing that, maybe you're right. Maybe she isn't like me. Maybe she's more of a Luthor than I've ever been. Good luck with my daughter, Kara. It looks like you'll need it." Turning on her heel, Lillian strode out of the room and never looked back.

Kara remained for several minutes until she could control her temper. She knew she should call the DEO about Lillian, but the woman would be gone before anyone could do anything. That was just the way Lillian operated. No, the real reason Kara was upset was that Lena was in the hospital because of her, because of Kara. She even remembered what Lena had said on their phone call that night, the concern about someone coming after Kara over the article. She'd been so smug that she couldn't be hurt, so unconcerned, that she'd forgotten about collateral damage. Lena was in a hospital bed, might die, because Kara had forgotten that her invulnerability didn't extend to the people about whom she cared so very much.

Racing to the roof, Kara did a quick change and took to the sky. She went from hang-out to hang-out of Kastrati's but failed to locate him. She did manage to find several of his associates, but none of them said they'd seen him. Asking wasn't getting her anywhere, so she stopped asking and started telling. People had hurt Lena because of her, bad people, and she was tired of being nice to them. She went long into the night, until the sun rose, redefining for these people what Supergirl stood for. Finally exhausted, but still not having found Kastrati, Kara went home just long enough to change then headed back over to the hospital where she fell asleep in that same chair next to Lena's bed. Her hand on Lena's, she dreamt again. It was becoming a habit.


	3. 3-You Gotta Have Faith

Maggie took a sip of her champagne as she slipped into the hot tub next to Alex. "Now tell the truth. Isn't this better than hunting down aliens in National City?"

"Better?" Alex leaned back in the hot tub, smiling at her girlfriend. "Maybe comparable."

"Comparable? This is comparable Danvers?" Putting the champagne on the edge of the tub, Maggie slid closer and asked, "So last night was it comparable when I…?" Maggie whispered in Alex's ear.

Alex's eyebrows rose up, higher and higher, with each word that Maggie said. As little giggles escaped, and Maggie finally nibbled on her earlobe, Alex turned and kissed the other woman soundly before replying, "Ah, no. That…that was much, much better. At least, I think it was. Maybe I need you to do that again to be sure."

"You need me to do that one more time?"

Holding up two fingers, Alex said, "Maybe twice, better make that three times," Alex added as she also added a third finger.

"Three times? Damn, Danvers, get you out of National City, and you actually know how to have fun. Who would have thought it?"

"Mmmm, get me alone with you, and I certainly know how to have fun."

They kissed again, Alex pulling Maggie on top of her. The kiss grew, hands sliding all over each other's body, and Alex was wondering if Maggie could do that thing in a hot tub. She wasn't sure, but she was certainly willing to give it a try.

"Alex!"

The voice startled both Alex and Maggie, making them both jump and turn. J'onn J'oonz stood in their hotel room's bathroom, watching them and waiting.

"J'onn!?" Alex shook her head while Maggie slid more of her body back under the water. "What the hell are you doing here!?"

"Come with me. We have an emergency," J'onn replied.

"No. I'm on vacation."

"I understand that. I'm sorry to interrupt, especially your…intimacy, but this is an emergency. You need to return immediately."

"J'onn, go to hell. I'm naked in a hot tub with my girlfriend. I went to another country for a reason. Go get someone else to handle it. James is there. Kara is there. You're—"

"Kara is the problem," J'onn said interrupting Alex's refusal.

"What's wrong with Little Danvers?" Maggie asked. "Uh, could you throw us our towels? I feel much more naked with you here."

"Certainly," J'onn said, tossing a towel to each of the women. "Kara has been attacking humans. We've been trying to get her in line, but she won't even talk to us. She has security at the hospital and—"

"What hospital? What are you talking about?" Alex asked as she climbed out of the tub and wrapped herself up in a towel.

"Kara didn't call you?"

Alex shook her head. "Well, she did right as we were getting on our flight. That was Thursday night. I haven't spoken to her since."

J'onn nodded. "That was the night Lena was shot."

"Lena was shot? What happened?" Maggie asked.

"What we've been able to ascertain is that while out at a nightclub with Lena on Thursday evening, a man approached Kara. They spoke briefly. He gave her something which she took, and then she turned her back on him as she began to write on it. While her back was turned to him, the man drew a gun on Kara. Lena was approaching the table and got between Kara and the gunman."

"On purpose?" Alex asked.

"On purpose," J'onn verified. "It looks as if she was rushing the gunman. The weapon went off, and Lena was shot twice. She survived the surgery but is still in the ICU listed in critical condition. She hasn't woken up."

"But she's going to be all right," Alex said.

J'onn shrugged.

"Now Kara's having a meltdown about this," Maggie stated.

"So it would seem," J'onn agreed. "Kara seems intent on finding the man responsible. She isn't working with us, and she's leaving a wide swath of damage in her wake. Alex, I'm worried she's going to kill someone."

"She wouldn't do that. Kara would never kill anyone."

"Alex, I need you to come back with me. Your sister is out of control. For her sake, come back."

"I need to go," Alex said to Maggie.

"Yeah, of course. I'll go with you. Whatever your sister needs. Hey, maybe I can help track this guy down. Do we have any leads?" Maggie asked J'onn as she followed Alex into the bedroom of the hotel room.

"We have a name, Andri Kastrati."

"Andri Kastrati," Maggie repeated. "That sounds vaguely familiar. Should I know that name?"

"He has ties to the Dushku family," J'onn further explained.

"Oh, sure, the Albanian organized crime family. I knew I'd heard his name. He's small time in a big…could you maybe go somewhere else while we changed?"

J'onn shrugged. "You do understand you're not my species. I'm sure you're attractive for your kind, Detective, but I've no interest. Plus, Alex is more like a daughter."

Walking over to the door, Maggie pulled it open. "Get. Out."

Shrugging again, J'onn strolled toward the door. "Please hurry. I have a plane fueling up on the runway for our return. However, if Kara kills someone—"

"She won't," Alex said, looking up from the clothes she'd thrown on the bed.

J'onn nodded, then left as the door closed behind him.

"Hey, hey, it's going to be fine," Maggie said as she pulled Alex into a hug.

"You heard J'onn. Kara's never violent. She understands her power and the responsibility that comes with it. She's always careful, especially around humans. What could make her lose control like this?"

"I don't know," Maggie admitted as she let Alex loose to return to packing. "Only one thing ever makes me act crazy, and right now it's you, Danvers."

The flight back to National City took about six hours. They went over the information they had on the case, including information on Kastrati and the entire Dushku syndicate. Alex was a neurotic mess the whole time. Maggie tried to be the comforting girlfriend, but for something things, there was no comforting. As much as Alex said there was no way Kara would ever cross the line and kill someone, her obvious concern showed her fears.

As the exited the plan, J'onn signaled Alex and Maggie to follow him to a waiting car. "Kara was just seen down by the waterfront. Kastrati is supposed to be boarding a ship down there, commercial freighter heading out to Europe. I'm sure Kara's heard about that. He won't be able to hide from her."

"Then we're just in time," Maggie said sliding into the backseat.

"I hope so," Alex added, sliding in next to Maggie.

The trio arrived amid chaos at the docks. People were running in abject terror, some bruised, beaten, and bloody, and those were the lucky ones. Moaning and unconscious bodies littered the ground, leaving the area looking more like a battleground than any part of National City…unless you count those under alien attack. Technically…

"What the hell happened here?" Alex asked even as she flinched back from an explosion that was both distant and too close for comfort.

"Your sister," J'onn replied, holding eye contact until Alex's immediate and obvious disagreement died on her lips. "Now you see why I had to come and get you."

Alex nodded, though inside she was still in denial. What she was seeing, this wasn't who Kara was. None of this was making sense. "Red Kryptonite? Has she been infected by red Kryptonite? Did you check for—?"

"Alex!" J'onn shook his head, and that was enough. This wasn't red Kryptonite; this was Kara.

Maggie kicked at the shoulder of one of the downed men, using a booted foot to roll him over so she could see his face. "I know this guy. He's one of the Dushku boys. So is that and that one." Maggie pointed over to two more downed men. "I bet these all are. Looks like Kara's gone on the warpath against that crime family. Well, at least we can say without a doubt that these aren't innocent men. These guys are killers. I should call in back-up. I don't have enough cuffs for all the trash we need to pick up off the road." She grabbed her cellphone, making a call.

"Alex, we need to find your sister. I expect she's over there," J'onn said with a gesture.

"Oh my God, Kara, what's going on in your head?"

A cargo ship, some 400 meters in length, had been dragged partially onto land and sat lopsided, spilling its load everywhere. Gunfire could be heard in the distance along with a mixture of shouts and screams. There were dull echoes and a tearing noise of metal that had a distinct signature of Supergirl to them.

"We should hurry," J'onn said as he took off.

"Just a human!" Alex yelled running after him, trying but failing to keep up.

Alex was several minutes behind J'onn who flew ahead but had just arrived outside the cargo ship when J'onn flew past her in the opposite direction. He landed on the ground, rolling for several feet before he came to a stop.

"J'onn?" Alex ran up to him, but J'onn was unresponsive. She looked up to see Supergirl flying lazily toward her, a man hanging from one hand. As the flying blonde drew nearer, Alex recognized the unconscious man dangling from her sister's hand as Andri Kastrati, the man who had shot Lena.

Slowly Supergirl looked her sister up and down as she said, "Well, look who's here. Your vacation ended early Alex?"

"Put him down, Supergirl. You don't want to hurt anyone else," Alex said.

"I don't want to hurt anyone?" Supergirl looked at the man in her grip. "Oh, I think you're wrong about that Alex. This someone I very much want to hurt. This someone very much deserves to be hurt, and I'm the one who should be doing it."

"You've hurt enough people."

"Have I? It doesn't feel like it. It doesn't feel like it because I'm still hurting. I'm still in pain. Someone I care about was shot because of me, may die because of me, and this is who did it. How can I stop when I still hurt so much?"

"I understand. You're hurting, and you think that if you hurt the people responsible, you'll feel better, but revenge isn't the answer. It never is. Supergirl, you need to stop. Hand Kastrati over to the police, and stop this madness. You found him. Now let the authorities take over."

"I will Alex," Supergirl replied.

Alex relaxed immediately, but her tension immediately returned at Supergirl's next words.

"I'll hand him over to the police if Lena wakes up if she survives."

"What does that mean?" Alex asked, but she already had a pretty good idea what her sister meant. As much as she didn't want to hear this response, she needed to make sure she understood.

Supergirl shrugged, the man's limp form hanging from her hand. "If Lena lives, he lives. If she doesn't…Justice, Alex, it means justice, and the kind he won't get from the police."

"Supergirl, you're better than this. You're not a killer. I know you, and you're not a killer."

"And what has that gotten me?" Supergirl replied. "My friend is in a coma in her hospital bed. Trash like this…" Supergirl lifted Kastrati up to shoulder height. "…runs rampant through our city, murdering the innocent and hiding behind the law, law that is supposed to protect the innocent but that instead shields the guilty. No, what I am hasn't been enough to protect this city or the people that matter, so maybe it's time for me to be something else."

Supergirl threw Kastrati over her shoulder and turned, flying further into the air.

"Supergirl. Supergirl! Kara!"

At Alex's use of her real name, Kara stopped.

"Look at me. Look at me!" When Kara looked back over her should, Alex said, "I know you. I know who you really are, and no matter what happens, you'll never be a murderer. No matter what you say, you'll never convince me otherwise. Come back to me. I know you're hurting, but I can help you. Let me help." Alex stood with her hand outstretched, waiting for her sister.

"Can you save Lena?" When Alex only stood, mouth open and unresponsive, Supergirl nodded. "That's what I thought. Neither can I. I've never felt so powerless. There are things in this world I can't change, people I can't save, but there are people I can stop from ever hurting anyone again. I'm going to do what I can. I'm sorry if this hurts you, Alex."

"No, don't—" Supergirl was already gone, disappeared into the sky with her passenger over her shoulder. Alex barely saw her streak away. It was the last thing she had expected to happen. Even now, Alex didn't believe it was true. Kara was many things, but she wasn't a killer.

When J'onn came to, Alex had to explain to him that Kara had escaped with Kastrati. After quite a bit of hesitation, she admitted that her sister had made a threat against him also, but still claimed that Kara wouldn't kill anyone. J'onn was less positive, reaching out to Winn to track Kara's whereabouts. The police had arrived, and Maggie gave them some updates and then left with J'onn and Alex to head back to DEO headquarters.

When they got back to the base, J'onn was immediately looking to Winn for information on Kara's whereabouts.

"Do you have her location?" J'onn asked.

"Yes," Winn replied slowly. "The thing is—"

"Just tell me," J'onn snapped back.

Winn exhaled slowly, leaning back in his chair and pointing at his screen. "She's at the hospital."

"The hospital?" J'onn repeated.

Winn nodded.

"Does she have Kastrati with her?" J'onn asked.

"Uh, I don't know. You just asked me to track Kara," Winn replied.

"Winn, did she fly directly to the hospital from the docks?" Alex asked, following a hunch.

"No," Winn said, tapping at his keyboard and bringing up a display that showed a screen covered in so many yellow lines as to be almost purely yellow. "She flew back and forth all over the globe for nearly two hours, stopping all over the place, but only a minute or so at a time. I have no idea what she was doing."

"Laying a false trail. Smart, Little Danvers," Maggie noted.

"A false trail?" Winn asked.

"Winn, I need you to trace every stop that she made. I need every GPS location, understood?" J'onn ordered.

"Uh, yeah, but there are over 100 of them. She was literally all over the globe. Forget about not being in National City; most of it isn't in this country. We have some jurisdiction issues here."

"Just get it done," J'onn said in his best grumpy voice, making Winn being to type immediately. "Alex, you're with me. I'm assembling a task force—"

"I'm going to the hospital," Alex said interrupting J'onn.

"The hospital?" J'onn stared her down.

Alex nodded, her resolve unwavering. "Kara needs someone right now. She's spiraling out of control, but I still don't think she's capable of killing not on purpose and certainly not out of revenge. She's just scared, angry, and feeling alone. I can help. The last thing she needs is a bunch of DEO agents storming the hospital threatening her and making her feel like Lena is under attack again. That will just start a fight. We don't need her on the defensive again. Let me talk to her."

J'onn considered Alex's words. "You're sure about this."

"I know my sister. I have faith in her."

"You better be right. If she crosses that line, we treat her like a hostile alien, and you know what that means."

"It won't come to that J'onn," Alex assured him.

"I'm going with you," Maggie said, her hand on Alex's arm.

Alex looked over at Maggie for a moment then nodded. Maggie was the kind of support she needed loving moral support. Kara wouldn't see Maggie as a threat so that would be good. Now all they needed to do was convince one of the most powerful beings on this planet to hand over someone who had tried to murder a friend. The worst part was that Alex didn't fully disagree with what Kara was doing. It wasn't about Kara being in the wrong; it was about who Kara was and crossing a line. If a normal human crossed that line, she and the DEO could look the other way given the circumstances. Supergirl was anything but normal. Supergirl was extraordinary and needed special rules all of the time. This was one of them, and right now it sucked.

The drive over to the hospital was one-sided. Maggie made a series of attempted starts to failed conversations while Alex stewed. Technically, Alex was just worried. Even a hand reaching over with comfort was met with Alex withdrawing hers. Physically and emotionally, Alex was pulling away. By the time they got to the hospital, Maggie needed to clear the air.

As they stepped out of the car, Maggie moved in front of Alex before they could enter the hospital. "Hey, enough of this crap Danvers. Don't shut me out."

"I'm not—"

"Don't. I know you're worried about your sister, but you don't have to go it alone. I've got your back. Whatever happens, I've got your back. You just tell me how we're playing this. You're not alone. That kid isn't alone. Do you hear me?"

Alex let that settle in for several seconds, then she stepped forward, holding Maggie tightly against her. "How did I get so lucky?"

Maggie replied with a small laugh, "Well when we get your sister settled down I'll take you back to the hotel room and then you'll get lucky."

Alex pushed back, the first smile she'd had in hours on her face as she said, "Oh I will, will I?"

Maggie nodded. "Oh yeah. Then I'll do that thing at least three more times, but maybe four because it's a stress reliever and I think you've got some stress Danvers."

"So much stress, but you are such a good stress reliever."

"Come on." Maggie held out her hand. "Let's go settle down your sister and then we can go relieve each other's stress."

Still smiling, Alex took Maggie's hand as they made their way into the hospital. They found Lena's room fairly easily, but security was tight. There were several heavily armed guards up there. More surprising, they had handheld alien detectors. Alex was on the list as Kara's sister, but Maggie only made the list after Alex proclaimed Maggie as her partner. They were both scanned, patted down, their weapons removed, and then they were led to the room.

"Partner?" Maggie asked, eyebrows high as she looked at Alex.

Alex shrugged. "It got you into the room, right?"

"Right."

"You all right?"

Maggie nodded, but now her brows were furrowed. "They took our weapons. I feel more naked than when J'onn showed up while we were in the hot tub."

Alex laughed, then leaned in, whispering in Maggie's ear. "Are you telling me you don't have any weapons?"

Maggie gave her a strange look out of the side of her eye, then whispered back, "Of course I've got something but just two knives. Those hardly count. In the hot tub, you and I both had a half dozen guns we could grab easily in case of emergency. I feel underdressed."

Alex nodded thoughtfully. "Maybe we don't know how to relax."

The guard opened the door to Lena's room, and Alex and Maggie stepped just inside but didn't move any further yet. Lena lay in the hospital bed, tubes and wires leading to several parts of her body. A tube was in her mouth, down her throat, pushing air in and out and controlling her breathing. The only sounds in the room were the beeps of the machine, marking off Lena's life, the whoosh sound coming from a black accordion shape off to the side that pushed the air in and out of Lena's lungs, and some music coming from speakers hooked up to the iPhone on the side table. Next to the bed, between Lena and the door, Kara sat partially upright in a chair. Her hand was stretched out onto the bed where she held Lena's hand, and her head was turned toward Lena. By Kara's lack of reaction, she might have been asleep.

Maggie and Alex looked at each other, neither of them sure what to do or say. It looked awful. No matter what they'd heard, they hadn't been prepared for this. Lena was always this strong, self-assured, and elegant woman. The word that came to mind now was broken. What they were looking at now were the broken pieces of Lena that the doctors had put back together, but she was far from whole. Whether or not she would ever be so remained to be seen.

Finally, Alex opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, Kara said, "Hello Alex, Maggie. Are you here to visit Lena?" After a few seconds, she lazily rolled her head to the right and looked at the newcomers.

When her sister looked at her, it was enough to draw a response. Alex nodded and said, "Yes. We were worried about her. How is she doing?"

"The same," Kara replied in an oddly monotone voice. "She's always doing the same. The doctors come in and check on her, but they don't have any updates for me. They said the first forty-eight hours would be critical, but we passed that, and she hasn't woken up. Do you think she's going to wake up?"

"Uh…" Alex stammered, worried about her sister's odd demeanor.

"Definitely," Maggie said stepping forward and walking up to the bed. "Lena's a fighter. No one keeps her down. She's healing, that's all. Her body needs time, and she's taking it. Have faith in her Little Danvers. You have faith in Lena, don't you?"

Kara looked over at her friend in the hospital bed and nodded. "I do."

"Then don't worry. She's going to be fine. I know it. You know it. Lena knows it. Alex knows it too, don't you Danvers?"

Alex looked momentarily startled to be addressed but then nodded as she smiled awkwardly.

"See?" Maggie also smiled, deep dimples showing. "No reason to worry. Your family is here, and Lena is going to be fine. You need a hug kid?"

"I'd love a hug," Kara admitted as she stood and wrapped herself into Maggie's arms. "Thank you."

"Anytime. All Danvers' hugs are good. Speaking of which, you want to get in on this Alex?"

Alex walked over, joining in on the hug. This was her sister, the scared little kid trying to protect a friend. This was the Kara she knew.

As they stepped away, Kara wiped tears from her face. She'd had plenty of reasons for tears over the past four days and some tears but not nearly enough. She was overdue. Being with family, being offered comfort, that gave her a chance to relax and let the out.

"Your vacation ended early," Kara noted while Alex and Maggie pulled up chairs to sit near her.

"Eh, you know. All that sun, cabana girls, alcohol, your sister naked and all over me." Maggie rolled her eyes with fake drama. "I just couldn't take any more of it. I needed a vacation from my vacation. Thankfully you went house on a bunch of criminals, and I got to come back and arrest them all, so thanks for that Little Danvers. I much prefer weeks of paperwork to sex with your sister."

"Maggie!" Alex slapped out, hitting her girlfriend on the arm even as Kara giggled.

"Hey, the truth hurts doesn't it Danvers?"

"You're going to be curling up with paperwork tonight if you don't watch it," Alex threatened.

"Don't talk like that in front of your little sister. You're getting me all hot," Maggie replied, pulling at the top of her t-shirt and fanning herself.

Kara giggled again, finding herself relaxing for the first time in days. Maggie was always good for that, casual and funny. Alex was too high strung, but Maggie brought the fun. In that way, she was really good for her sister. Maybe that's why opposites attracted. You looked for the things you lacked, traits that helped make you complete. Casually, thoughtlessly, Kara reached out and took Lena's hand in her own once again. While Maggie and her sister chatted, Kara smiled and listened, nodding and smiling from time to time, hoping Lena could hear and someplace was smiling too.

It was hours later when a nurse popped her head in and said, "Visiting hours are over Miss Danvers."

Kara nodded at the nurse and stood. They'd sat around for hours, talking, smiling, laughing, crying, rinse/repeating the process. They'd had two meals and two dozen donuts delivered in there also. Kara had eaten most of the donuts. One was left on Lena's bedside table. One always got left on Lena's bedside table. Even if she woke up right then, she wouldn't be able to eat it, but Kara thought it was important to know that there was always a donut kept out for her. It was more than a gesture, it was hope, and right now hope was all that they had.

After Kara had hugged her sister and Maggie goodbye, she said, "You didn't ask me about Kastrati. Isn't that why J'onn sent you here?"

Alex shook her head. "No one sent me here. I came to spend time with my sister and check on Lena. That's why I'll be back tomorrow. I love you."

"I meant what I said," Kara replied, all determination.

"Oh, I know you did, but I'm not worried. I have faith in you. I know you even if you don't know yourself right now. See you in the morning, Kara." Alex turned, leaving the room.

"See you tomorrow, Little Danvers," Maggie said with a smile and a wave as she followed Alex out of the room.

Neither Alex nor Maggie spoke until they reached their car downstairs. Someone had super hearing. Closed into the car, Alex turned on the radio and slumped into her seat. Maggie put an arm over her girlfriend, pulling Alex into a one-armed embrace.

"You okay? Maggie asked.

Alex nodded but didn't say anything.

"You really think she's going to let that guy go if Lena doesn't pull through?"

Alex took a few breaths, then said, "Yes. I know Kara. She's in pain right now, and she's lashing out, but she's no killer. I think she was feeling alone, scared, and lost. I'm glad we came back. She really needs someone. Did you see how she looked and sounded when we first got there?"

"Yeah, that was scary. She was scary."

"That wasn't my sister. When we left, that was Kara. We'll be back in the morning, and we'll help more. She just needs grounding. She's been out of control for days, and she needs help."

"Okay. Let's bring donuts. Donuts help too," Maggie suggested.

Alex turned, kissing her girlfriend briefly and smiling. "See how well you know her? Hey, thanks for being here and just for being you. You're such a good influence on Kara."

"Sheesh, not what I usually hear about women. Hey, what's up with this Kara/Lena thing anyway?"

"What do you mean? They're friends."

Maggie stared over at her girlfriend for several moments. "You're right. Just start the car. I've had a long freaking day, and I want to get some sleep. I hope tomorrow is less eventful."

"I agree." Alex started the car, pulling them out of the parking garage and into traffic. "So, are you too tired to do that thing again?"

"That thing?" A smile grew on Maggie's lips. "I don't know about that thing, but maybe I could do this other thing." She leaned in close, whispering in Alex's ear and nibbling on it again.

As Alex's eyebrows rose, she said, "Hold on tight. I'm about to break the speed limit…a lot."


	4. 4-Faith, Justice, and Love

Alex and Maggie spent the next two days going back and forth between the hospital, Alex's apartment, and the DEO. Maggie was glad she was still officially on vacation and didn't have to go to work. Babysitting Kara was a full-time job. Lena's condition was unchanged the whole time which was both good and bad. Everyone wanted her to wake-up, but they all feared the worst. Unchanged at least held the potential for recovery.

Everyday J'onn badgered Alex to get Kara to tell her Kastrati's whereabouts, to release him. Every day Alex pushed back and said Kara would do so no matter what and pushing her would be a mistake. Alex promised that she knew her sister and the best thing they could do was offer support. Pushing Kara would only equal pushing her away.

It was around lunchtime, Maggie and Alex eating with Kara in Lena's hospital room as had become the norm. Alex pushed her food off to the side and declared, "Ugh, so full. I think I ate too much."

"You think Danvers?" Maggie said with a grin that showed off her dimples. "Was there something on the menu that you didn't order?"

"I couldn't decide. I thought when I looked at it one thing would look better than something else and I'd only eat…ugh…just roll me out the door into the street. I think I need to walk this off."

Kara laughed. "Actually, I could go for a walk too. I haven't left this room in days."

"Carry me?" Alex said, arms raised as her sister rose and stood above her.

"Oh, stand up," Kara replied grabbing her sister's arms and yanking Alex to her feet. "You need to walk."

"She **needs** to walk, but can she?" Maggie asked.

"No, I'm too full," Alex said, leaning dramatically on her sister.

Kara giggled, shaking her head while she walked to the door with Alex draped half on her. Suddenly Kara stopped, looking down at Alex. "Hey, this isn't a trick, is it? There aren't going to be a dozen DEO agents out there waiting for me, are there?"

Alex pulled herself upright but put a hand on her stomach, still feeling quite full. "Kara, of course not. I would never betray you like that. You can trust me. You trust me, don't you?"

Studying her sister for several moments, Kara's face softened, and she nodded. "I do. I trust you, Alex."

"And I trust you," Alex replied placing one hand on Kara's arm. "I really am full though. Any chance you could carry me?"

"No way. You're walking. Let's go."

"Ugh. You coming with us?" Alex asked as she looked back at Maggie.

"Nope. I only ate for one. I'll keep an eye on sleeping beauty. If anything changes, I'll call you ladies. Enjoy your walk. Kara, feel free to make her jog."

"No. No jogging. I swear I'll throw up," Alex replied with concern.

Kara nodded. "We might go for a run."

"I'll puke everywhere. I'll puke on you," Alex threatened her sister.

"I'm too fast," Kara replied with a grin, disappearing and then reappearing by the door faster than the eye could see.

"Then I'll save it up and puke on you," Alex said pointing at Maggie.

Maggie waved her girlfriend off with the backs of both of her hands. "Just go spend some time with your sister and walk off your seven-course meal. I'll be here when you Danvers sisters get back."

The sisters nodded, though Alex still looked both queasy and concerned. As Alex left, she took her firearms back from security. Kara checked in and let them know where she was going and for how long. She gave them the usual speech about not letting anyone in. Then she checked with the nurses reminding them she needed a call if anything changed with Lena even anything minor. They nodded and assured her they'd call just like they always did.

Kara and Alex walked for three blocks, just talking about life in general, before the discussion got around to anything related to what was going on right now. It was Alex who first broached the subject when she asked, "Kara, I'm curious about one thing."

"Just one?"

"Why are you running the show for Lena? I mean, I know you were there when she was shot, that the assailant was after you, so I understand why you feel responsible. What I don't understand is why people are letting you be in charge of everything? Doesn't she have family who…? Okay, maybe not family, but lawyers or someone who should be doing all this?"

"She definitely has lawyers," Kara agreed. "They're filing orders to make my durable power of attorney null and void. They're claiming it's fake."

"Why do you have a durable power attorney for Lena?"

"Because I'm her dom…" Kara's voice faded off into a mumbled.

"I'm sorry, what? I don't have super hearing."

Kara sighed, lifting her arms and slapping them down along her legs. "Fine, I'm her domestic partner." She kept walking, waiting for her sister's response, but when she didn't get it turned to see what Alex was doing. There was no Alex there. Kara turned to see Alex back exactly where she'd left her, standing with mouth slightly agape. With one hand Kara gestured for Alex to catch up to her.

Alex shook her head, gesturing for Kara to walk back to her.

Kara shook her head in return, again waving Alex to return.

Brow furrowed, Alex pointed emphatically at the ground.

Kara sighed and slapped her arms against the sides of her legs again, walking back to her sister. "What?"

"Don't you what me! You're Lena's domestic partner? What the hell does that mean!?" Alex demanded.

"Shhhh."

"Oh go shhh yourself. I was not in Acapulco that long. What have you been keeping from me?"

"Nothing."

"Oh, that is not nothing. I lived that nothing for years. I was so deeply in the closet I had hangers in my hair. Kara, why didn't we talk about this? Oh my God, now I understand why you've been going crazy about Lena being shot. How long have you two been together?"

"No, we're not," Kara said shaking her head. "Winn did it."

"Winn did what?"

"Winn got us together. No, I mean Winn put us together. No! Oh!" Holding up her hands, Kara shook her head. "I mean Winn created the durable power of attorney. I asked him to. I thought someone was trying to kill Lena. I thought Lillian might have been behind it and maybe had someone on the board. I was just trying to protect Lena. Then I found out it was all my fault and—"

"Kara, this was not your fault."

"Isn't it?"

"The Dusku family did this," Alex reminded her.

"Because of an article I wrote, an article that Lena told me would make me a target, but that I told her wasn't an issue. I assured her I was safe and that the police had the criminals all under control. I said that because I knew I couldn't be hurt by common criminals. I never stopped to think about other people in my life. Lena wanted to get security to protect me, but I wouldn't let her because I couldn't have them around me as Supergirl. I told Lena I was safe and because of that someone that I…" Arms wrapped around herself, Kara stared at the ground.

"Someone that you what?"

"That music that's playing in Lena's room, it's her music. I wasn't sure what she liked, so I got her phone and unlocked it."

"You knew her code?" Alex asked, obviously surprised.

"No, but I could see the most common pressure points on the screen. I just had to try all of the combinations until the phone unlocked. When it opened, do you know what it was?"

"I don't want to know the code to Lena's phone."

"It was the day and month she and I met," Kara said ignoring her sister.

"You remembered that?"

"As soon as I saw it I knew it. As soon as I saw it, I knew what it was. It was a memorable day for me. I guess it was for her too."

"Maybe it was a coincidence," Alex suggested.

Kara looked up from the ground, staring down her sister. "Do you think it was a coincidence that she stepped in front of a gunman for me too?"

"No I… Kara, I didn't mean to upset you."

"I'm not upset. I'm angry. I'm sad. I'm…exhausted. I'm scared too."

"I'm here," Alex reminded her sister, reaching out and putting her hand on Kara's arm.

Kara nodded. "I know, and I'm grateful. It's been awful sitting here with her alone every day. I don't know what I'll do if she doesn't wake up, but whatever happens, I'm glad I'm not alone."

"Hey, you'll never be alone. We're sisters. We're family. I'll always have your back."

Kara hugged Alex, grateful for the hug, the comfort, that she received in return.

Stepping back Alex said, "Okay, let's keep walking. I don't want to, but if I don't walk, I've got to sleep off all that Thai food."

Kara nodded and smiled slightly as she walked next to her sister. "Is J'onn giving you a hard time about…you know?"

"Nah," Alex replied. "Well, nothing I can't handle. I told him everything will be fine. I know you. I trust you, and he has to trust my judgment."

"That's it?"

"That's it," Alex replied. "So Winn faked a durable power of attorney for you? That's a big time crime, even for him. How'd you convince him to do that? Did you blackmail him with his DVD crimes?"

Kara nodded slowly. "He's at the DEO."

"Winn? I know. I saw him yesterday, and he said he'd be there today."

"Not Winn, Kastrati. I put him in a cell at the DEO." This time Kara watched as Alex simply stopped walking.

"No, that isn't possible. We'd notice an extra prisoner. You can't just put someone extra in there, Kara."

"Right, but I can put someone in there and take someone else out, which is what I did."

Hand over her mouth, Alex shook her head. When she dropped her hand, she said, "Tell me that's a joke."

"If it were a joke, wouldn't you be laughing?"

"Who? Kara, these are some of the most dangerous beings from across the universe. Who would you move?"

"He's sedated, and his was the only cell that worked because it blocked both light and sound so—"

Alex gasped, her hand held up in front of her. "Tell me he hasn't gotten out."

"He hasn't. It's fine."

Exhaling heavily, Alex slumped down until her hands rested on her knees. "Okay, now I think I am going to puke. Kara, we can't let J'onn find out about this."

"He'll be upset."

"He'll kill us. He'll kill you and kill you so hard he'll keep going and just kill me by relationship. I'll die by adoption. What were you thinking?"

Biting her lip, Kara shrugged. "I wasn't?"

"No kidding!" Alex exhaled. "Okay, okay, no yelling. I'm sorry. We just…we have to get him back. Tonight, can you do it tonight?"

Kara nodded quickly.

"Okay, good. And Kastrati, you'll bring him back and hand him over to J'onn?"

Kara hesitated, then nodded again.

Alex hugged her sister again, holding her tightly. "Thank you, Kara. It's going to be okay. Lena's going to be okay. You'll see."

"I hope so," Kara agreed as she stepped away and started to walk again. "I feel so lost right now."

Putting her arm over Kara's shoulder, Alex said, "I'm beginning to see that."

Alex and Maggie left before dinner, heading back to the DEO. They had a message to deliver. Kara had agreed to bring Kastrati back but wanted to meet elsewhere. J'onn was riding point on the mission and taken a large team with him which was exactly what Alex hoped would happen. The more people gone the fewer who would be at the DEO when Kara sneaked the alien back into the DEO. Maggie stayed behind to be a distraction in the Operations room in case one was needed.

At the meeting site, J'onn paced back at forth, checking the time again as he snapped, "Where is she, Agent Danvers?"

"She'll be here, Sir."

"That isn't what I asked you."

"That's what's important. She said she'll be here, and she'll be here. She'll be here, and she'll bring him unharmed."

"I've felt her unharmed," J'onn said rubbing at his jaw. "Her unharmed doesn't mean what it used to mean. If she isn't here in five minutes—"

"Sir, we have something on radar," A voice said across the coms.

"Look sharp!" J'onn ordered. "No one fires unless I give the order or if she attacks."

"She won't attack, Sir. She isn't violent," Alex promised.

"Danvers, you and I have different definitions of violent and unharmed. Until we have the civilian back, let's agree to disagree."

"Yes, Sir," Alex replied.

Within seconds Supergirl landed. Over one shoulder she had a man, Kastrati, bound, blindfolded, and gagged. She didn't land just hovered several feet off the ground and surveyed the soldiers, the ones with whom she'd worked on a daily basis, who now pointed weapons at her. It was a sobering sight. Looking over at her sister she received a nod, so Supergirl returned that. Landing she walked the few feet over to J'onn.

"You're late," J'onn said.

"I was here before you," Supergirl replied. "I had to scan the area for Kryptonite or lead. Then I had to scan all of you as you arrived. Only when I could be sure it was safe could I leave and go get my prisoner. If you'd double-crossed me, you wouldn't have gotten him back."

"We kept our word. No Kryptonite of any kind, no attempts to capture you will be made, so long as you turn over the human you've taken and stand down. Will you keep your word?" J'onn asked.

Looking down at the ground for several moments, Supergirl nodded then lifted her head again as she spoke. "Here he is, Kastrati, alive and relatively unharmed."

"Relatively?" J'onn asked, casting a sideways look at Alex.

"He resisted capture when I first found him. He was fleeing the country. I stopped him. Nothing permanent was done to him…I don't think." Supergirl furrowed her brow then shook her head. "No, he'll be fine. He's been eating, drinking water, all of the normal things a human prisoner does."

"Human prisoners normally go to jail," J'onn pointed out.

"He was in jail!" Supergirl snapped back.

"Okay, okay, everyone just take a breath," Alex said wanting to get control of the situation before it got out of hand. J'onn and Kara's fight had obviously left them with some unresolved issues. Alex had no problem with them resolving them but not in the middle of a prisoner being handed over and not in front of all of these soldiers. They'd deal with it later and in private. "Supergirl, why don't you hand over Kastrati. I'm sure you have someplace more important to be. Isn't there someone who needs you more?"

As the anger left Supergirl's face, a frown set in. "There is. Here, you can keep the trash. Turn him over to the police. I expect that's what you're going to do with him. He and I had a discussion. I think he's ready to talk to them. Kastrati understands now there are worse things in this world than the Dushku family. They may not be native to this world, but they're here now. I guess ignorance was bliss."

Tossing Kastrati at J'onn, Supergirl took to the sky once again. Weapons followed her, but no one opened fire. Alex breathed a sigh of relief, and she wasn't alone. No one there wanted to fight a friend and ally. It wasn't about winning and losing, though they were doubtful they could win, it was about what they'd built as a unit over the years. When someone joined that unit and was accepted, the last thing you ever wanted to do was turn on them no matter the reason. This didn't seem like a very good reason. You followed orders, even the ones that kept you up at night, but some of those orders you hated. These were the good days when the orders said not to shoot a friend, and the bad guy went to jail. Today was a win for the DEO.

Sitting next to the hospital bed of her friend, Kara Danvers wished she could say the same. Lena was in a coma, struggling for life, relying on machines for something which was normally involuntary…breathing. The man who'd shot her had been turned over to a branch of the government that didn't exist so the cops could bring him to justice. It wouldn't be justice though, not really, not in Kara's eyes. Justice would be Lena getting up right now, taking her hand, and walking out of this hospital while Kastrati took her place in this bed, hooked up to machines that were his judge and jury on life or death. No, Kara Danvers was starting to doubt that justice truly existed on this or any planet in the universe. The one thing in which she wasn't doubting was love.


	5. 5-She Blinked

The next day at the DEO, Maggie showed up to update Alex on the Kastrati situation down at Central.

"It all went well?" Alex asked.

Maggie chuckled. "Kastrati missed his calling. He shouldn't have joined the Dushku crime family. He should have joined the opera. That boy can sing."

Alex smiled. "He's talking."

"Shutting him up is the trick right now. He wants protection, but more than anything, he doesn't want to leave the loving arms of the NCPD. You think someone threatened him?"

Alex rolled her eyes. "Kara promised he'd…cooperate."

"Oh, he's being cooperative all right. Hey, you think she could question all my perps first from now on? I think it would really help my close percentage."

"Kara…" Alex sighed ignoring Maggie's sarcasm. "I don't know why she's acting like this."

"You're kidding right?"

Alex shook her head.

"It's Lena."

"Well, yeah, I got that. I just mean I don't know why she's overreacting about Lena. We're all upset when a friend gets hurt. We've all lost friends. This just seems…"

"Intimate?" Maggie suggested.

"I was thinking irrational."

Maggie laughed. "Yeah, that works too. You make me irrational Danvers."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You honestly have no idea what's going on with Little Danvers?"

Again, Alex shook her head.

"Oh, come on. Kara, Lena, the chemistry?" Maggie smiled, her deep dimples showing.

"Wait." Alex grabbed Maggie's forearm. "You think Kara's being controlled chemically?"

Hand slapped over her face, Maggie stood for several seconds taking cleansing breaths before she removed her hand and smiled at her girlfriend again. "Sweetie, we've got to get your gaydar fixed. You were in denial so long, it's totally on the fritz. Your sister has a thing for Lena."

"What? No, she doesn't."

"Ah…yes she does. I think it might be mutual too. I haven't seen much of them together, but I definitely got a vibe from Lena."

"A vibe? What vibe?"

"A gay vibe," Maggie explained.

"You think every woman's gay," Alex said dismissively.

"Not true. I think many, not all but maybe most women have some non-strait leanings. All I know is what I see. When we met you were so uptight I figure you were either deeply in the closet and were never coming out, which was almost true, or were rigidly straight. Sexuality exists on a spectrum though, and very few women exist at one extreme or another."

Arms crossed, Alex stared down at her girlfriend and said, "You think most women are at least a little bit gay?"

"Hey, I calls 'em likes I sees 'em."

Alex started looking around the DEO Command Center and naming off the women who were there. "Weber."

"A little bit gay," Maggie said with a look at the agent in question and a nod.

"How about Liu?" Alex asked.

"Oh, she goes both ways."

Alex shook her head and asked, "What about Imani?"

"That's a joke right?" Maggie said smiling deeply. "You look straight compared to Imani, and baby you're gay."

Brows furrowed, Alex looked around until she saw one of the soldiers walking toward them. She snapped her fingers and pointed right at Maggie. "Anastas, now I know she's straight."

"Anastas? You think Anastas is straight?" Maggie asked.

Alex just smiled and nodded.

Maggie smiled and nodded back, then turned to the soldier and said, "Hey Anastas, is that a new hairdo?"

"I…yeah. I just got it two days ago. You like it?" Anastas said, patting at her hair.

"Girl, you look fine, but you always do." Smiling broadly until her dimples showed, Maggie winked.

Anastas smiled back, wrapping her arms around the clipboard she held in her hands. "Thanks, you too Maggie. I mean…" She glanced over nervously at Alex. "I should get going."

"Yes, you should," Alex said icily. When the soldier left, Alex smacked Maggie on the arm. "You were flirting with her? You were flirting with her! What were you thinking flirting with her?"

"Relax, my girlfriend said she was definitely straight. It's legit."

Arms crossed, Alex stared down at Maggie. "Ask me how my couch is."

Maggie hesitated but finally asked, "How's your couch?"

"I hear it's great for sleeping. Find out for yourself."

"Oh, come on Alex," Maggie said as Alex walked off. "You know I have my own place, don't you? Honey, sweetie. I'll do that thing you like." Maggie ran after Alex adding, "I'll do that other thing you like too."

That afternoon, Alex and Maggie went by the hospital to spend time with Kara. Lena's situation remained unchanged and Kara's mood had grown darker, sadder. Kara was starting to doubt that Lena would ever wake-up. She wondered if she'd spend the rest of her life watching over Lena's unconscious body or at least until the board of Lena's company's lawyers pushed her out. That was getting closer every day and not even Supergirl could stop that.

The next day Alex and Maggie returned, and after lunch, Maggie convinced Kara to take a walk with her. Maggie claimed she was full and needed the walk, but really she thought Kara needed to get out of the hospital room. A change of scenery could only help right now. Alex volunteered to stay behind with Lena just as Maggie did last time. She promised she'd call if anything changed.

"How you holding up, Little Danvers?" Maggie asked while they walked along the streets of National City.

Kara shrugged while staring at her feet.

"That's about what I expected. You know she's going to be okay, don't you?"

"Do I?" Kara asked as she turned to look at Maggie. "This is all my fault."

"Don't say that."

"Why not. It's true."

"No, it's not. The only person to blame for this is in jail. He tried to kill you. Lena, she's the victim. You were a victim too."

"No, I wasn't," Kara shot back quickly. "I haven't been able to get that thought out of my mind. Tell me this Maggie. If someone pointed a gun at my sister, what would you do?"

"Shoot them."

"Right, because you're you. If you didn't have a gun, if you're only choice was to step between my sister and the bullet, would you?"

"Yes," Maggie admitted immediately. "Is that what has you all wound up? Are you thinking about why Lena did this for you?"

Kara shook her head. "I have another question for you. If someone was pointing a gun at me, would you step between me and a bullet?"

"A Kryptonite bullet?"

"No, just a bullet," Kara replied.

"No. I mean, nothing personal kid, but you're Supergirl. I know my duty, and anyone else sure but not you."

"Exactly, because you know I'm Supergirl. Even though you're a cop and your duty is to protect the people of National City, you wouldn't put your life on the line to protect me, not like Lena did." Kara waited while Maggie absorbed that thought. "Lena was willing to die for me, may still die for me, all because I didn't tell her who I really am. That's on me. No matter what happens now, I have to live with that."

"Damn." Maggie nodded, rubbing at the back of her neck. "You're right. I don't mean you're right that it's your fault, but you're right that if Lena had known the truth she wouldn't have stepped between you and that gun. Or, then again, maybe she would have. I doubt she thought about it. Love makes us do stupid things."

"Love?" Kara's phone buzzed and she looked down at it, her eyes widening. "It's Alex. Lena. Oh, no." Suddenly Kara was sky bound, racing back to the hospital and leaving Maggie behind. She landed on the rooftop and made her way down seven flights of stairs in seconds. As she popped out of the stairwell she slowed to a fast human run, racing down the hallway. "What's going on!?"

Two of the guards stepped in front of the doorway, one holding out a hand toward her. "Miss Danvers, I'll need the password." His orders were simple. Everyone else got scanned with the alien detector or they didn't enter. Kara had a password.

"Move!" She yelled barreling through both guards and knocking them over like bowling pins. They landed several feet away in either direction. Though that wasn't the usual password, it worked this time. "Lena!"

"Kara!" Alex yelled out from the side of the room.

Doctors and nurses crowded Lena's bed, blocking access and even view of the woman.

"Alex, what's going on?" Kara asked.

Alex held out her hand, grateful when her sister came to her and took the offered hand. "She woke up."

"She woke up?" Kara asked, honestly not certain she'd heard that right or if she'd just wanted to hear it.

Alex nodded, pulling her sister close and hugging Kara tightly and repeating, "She woke up. I was sitting and talking to her, holding her hand, and I thought it moved. Honestly, I thought it was wishful thinking on my part. You know how sometimes you just want something for so long that you start making it up in your head and—"

"But she woke up," Kara said, holding Alex at arm's length by both shoulders.

"Kara, she opened her eyes. I was scared, but then she blinked at me. I ran out of the room to get a nurse. There's a button, but I didn't think to push it. I guess I'm better with alien invasions than hospital rooms. Then I called you and…" Alex looked around. "Where's Maggie?"

"Lena's really awake?" Kara asked, still not sure she believed it.

"I told you she'd wake up. She's going to be okay, Kara."

Hands over her face, Kara slid down the wall and cried. When Alex sat next to her and held her, Kara cried harder. She slid to the side, her head in her sister's lap, and wept. Nearly a week of tension poured out of her as sobs wracked her body. At some point Maggie joined them, holding Kara too, though she barely noticed. Lena was alive. Lena was awake. Her world that had been spinning so wildly out of control was turning the right way again.


	6. 6-Before You Find Your Princess

Kara, Alex, and Maggie spent nearly two hours pressed into a corner while doctors and nurses worked on Lena. On more than one occasion, someone tried to move them from the room, but Kara would not be moved. Occasionally, she was able to make eye contact with Lena, and each time she did so her heart would race. Standing in a corner, Maggie on one side and Alex on the other while both women held her hand, Kara stood and watched feeling like it was taking all of her Kryptonian strength to stay put. Kara had spent a week waiting for Lena to wake up and now that Lena had, these moments kept from her friend's side were agonizing.

Finally, a doctor, a man Kara had seen from time to time, approached Kara and said, "Miss Danvers, Miss Luthor is incredibly weak and quite confused. She isn't able to speak right now. That's from the tube that's been down her throat. That's normal, and her speech will return. She's texting responses with her phone. We've done a neurological check on her, and she knows her name and the president, though she was confused as to the exact date which is to be expected. There is one thing you should know."

As the doctor paused, looking away, Kara felt her heart skip a beat. He'd given her the good news first, but something was wrong. The other shoe was about to drop.

"Just tell me," Kara said. "Tell me so I can help her."

He nodded. "She can't move her legs."

Kara's mouth ran dry, and she felt herself sway, her hands tightening around Alex and Maggie's to keep her in place.

The doctor was still speaking. "One of the bullets hit her spine, but we don't know if the spinal cord was damaged. It could just be swelling. If there was damage, we don't know if there will be recovery, if it's a complete or incomplete injury, or any number of variables. She's just woken up, and it's much too early to tell anything. Now that she's awake, you'll want to bring in a neurologist and have her reviewed. We have excellent ones on staff, but I assume you'll bring in your own team." The doctor waited for Kara's response, but when it didn't come he said, "Miss Danvers?"

"We'll do that," Alex said as Kara was still stunned. "My sister just needs a little bit of time to process all of this. Can we see Lena now?"

"Of course," the doctor replied.

"Does she know…?" Alex didn't know how to ask the question.

"She does. She's understandably upset but…" Looking at Kara again the doctor said, "Miss Danvers, your girlfriend is incredibly strong."

Kara nodded. "I need to be strong for her too." Kara walked past the doctor, Alex and Maggie following behind, and slid carefully onto the edge of Lena's bed. "You're awake."

Lena stared at Kara for several moments before nodding once.

Kara gasped, both of her hands covering her mouth. She had to wipe away tears, though for the first time in a week they were tears of happiness, before reaching out and gently touching Lena's face as Kara once again said, "You're awake. I knew you'd wake up. I wasn't about to leave you alone. I slept here."

A fine line growing between her eyebrows, Lena pulled up her cellphone and typed out a message to no one, just held up the phone to Kara that read: "What day is it?"

"Thursday," Kara replied.

Lena looked instantly relieved.

Realizing the misunderstanding, Kara put a hand on Lena's and shook her head. "Lena, it's a week from Thursday. You've been unconscious for a week."

The machines to the side began to beep faster as Lena's heart rate and respiration increased. She shook her head, looking around and then rubbing at her face with one hand. She typed into her phone again: "Where are my lawyers?"

"Well, actually, I…" Kara looked around to make sure there was no one there who could overhear her. "You know you got shot, right?"

Lena nodded.

"Okay, so I thought someone was trying to kill you. I thought it was probably your mother. Your power of attorney put everything in the hands of your board if something like this happened. I was terrified someone would come in and pull the plug on you, so I…" Kara hesitated, licking at her lips but finally saying, "I forged a new power of attorney putting me in charge. I did it to protect you. You understand that, right?"

Eyes wide, Lena typed out: "Who's running my company?"

"Uh…I don't know," Kara admitted.

Lena's eyes grew wide, and her nostrils flared. If she'd had any voice, she'd have been yelling. She raised her finger over her phone, no doubt to tell Kara off via text, but then the woman's face shifted. Anger gave way to fear, and Lena mouthed, 'Oh God.' Then she searched something in her phone, read for maybe a minute, and then began to type into her phone.

Kara waited for whatever Lena was typing to be shown to her, but it wasn't. It seemed to be a text message going out to someone. Lena sent it and waited. After several minutes she received a response and then there was a string of messages that went back and forth between Lena and whomever she was corresponding with. It went on for maybe two or three minutes and then Lena relaxed, lying her phone face down on top of her and closing her eyes.

Concerned and feeling a bit guilty, Kara placed her hand on Lena's arm. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry if I did the wrong thing. Someone shot you, and I carried your bleeding body out of that club. I thought you might die, and then I thought whoever did this would come back and finish the job. I've spent every day for the last week hoping and praying you would wake up but terrified you never would. If I made a mistake, I'm sorry, but I did it because I was scared and alone and because I care. Lena, the person who shot you was trying to kill me. If I could turn back time, I'd do it, and I'd step between you and that gunman. I'd do anything to take that moment back, to see you walk out of this room right now. I can't though, but if you want me to walk out of this room right now, I understand."

Tears running down her face, Kara patted Lena's arm and stood. Before she could take a step, she felt a hand on hers. Lena hadn't opened her eyes, but Lena's hand was wrapped over Kara's. That was enough. That said stay. That said the past week hadn't been in vain. Sitting back down again, Kara folded over onto Lena's shoulder and cried some more. Apparently, she wasn't out of tears.

Near the foot of Lena's bed, Alex wrapped her arms around Maggie from behind and cried too. This was good news, awful news, a wonderful and terrible day. They still had hope, but their hearts were gripped by fear. If nausea was an emotion, Alex was fairly certain that's what she was feeling. She wiped at the tears that ran down her face.

As Maggie ran a finger along her own cheek, Alex asked, "Hey are you crying?"

"No, I don't cry. Your tears are just dripping on me, Danvers. Try and hold it together."

"Right, because you're a tough guy," Alex said, her head resting on Maggie's shoulder while she didn't try to disguise her own tears.

"Miss Luthor?" A nurse stepped into the room wearing light green scrubs. She was a woman in her mid to late thirties with brown hair and green eyes. She smiled brightly as she walked down to the foot of Lena's bed and picked up the chart, examining it she spoke. "My name's Kalia Bishop, and I'll be one of the private nurses who your company has assigned to you now that you've woken up. I assume you don't have any questions about that?"

She and Lena held eye contact for several moments and then Lena nodded.

"That's great," Kalia said. "I'm going to put my name and phone number on your wipe board, though I'll be right outside. However, you can call me even if I'm not on shift. Your company will make sure that you have a nurse with you at all times. Now, I understand you'll be in need of a neurologist. I can make some calls for you and see who the best within their field are. After all, money isn't an object, right?"

Once again, Lena held eye contact with the woman and nodded.

"Excellent," Kalia replied as she walked over to the board and put her information up there. "Well, I'll be outside if you or your family need anything." As she left, she gave Kara an odd look over her shoulder.

"I don't like her," Maggie said.

"I'm sure she's a good nurse," Alex replied. "Sometimes they're just a bit pushy."

"She was beyond pushy. She thinks she's in charge. Kara, don't let her push you around. Make sure Lena is getting the best medical care possible. Alex, you know a thing about medicine, right? You know people in the field?"

"Medicine?" Alex asked.

"You went to Med School."

"For Bio-Engineering," Alex explained.

"How is that different?" Maggie asked. Before Alex could answer, Maggie's cellphone rang. She answered it saying, "Sawyer. Yes, Sir. Yes, Sir. Right away, Sir. I'm on my way, Sir." She disconnected and said, "Kara, Alex, can I speak with you two in the hallway for a minute?"

"I need to stay with Lena," Kara replied.

"I have an emergency situation," Maggie replied as she walked backward toward the doorway and pointed over her shoulder with her thumb. "Hallway…stat."

In the hallway, Alex, Maggie, and Kara found a quiet corner without people. Kara made sure they weren't being observed.

"What's going on?" Alex asked.

"Central holding has a situation. Some of the Dushku boys showed up to try and break Kastrati out. It was probably supposed to be a stealth mission, but they're idiots. We've got cops injured and down inside, a hostage situation. Apparently, they went in there with a freaking armory. They've rigged the place to explode. I've got to get down there."

"I'll go with you," Alex said.

"I need her," Maggie said looking at Kara.

Kara shook her head. "I can't leave Lena."

"Look Little Danvers, I get it, but Lena is on the mend now. Taking care of Lena is a job for doctors and nurses. What's going on downtown, that's a job for Supergirl."

"No, I—"

"Kara, she's right. I'll stay with Lena. You go with Maggie."

"You will?" Kara asked her sister.

"Sure, but she better do something exciting. If I'm passing up a perfectly good hostage situation with explosives to sit around and play Candy Crush on my phone, then you both owe me."

"You don't play Candy Crush Danvers," Maggie said, deep dimples showing as she smiled.

"I might," Alex replied. "You don't know everything about me."

"Oh yeah? What's it look like?" Maggie asked.

"It's a game with…candy, and you crush it."

"You got it in one," Maggie replied, still smiling. "Okay, Little Danvers. Ready to do something incredibly boring and heroic?"

Kara nodded then hugged her sister. "You'll call me if she needs anything."

"If I can pull myself away from crushing candy, yes. I won't leave the room," Alex promised.

"Let's go, kid," Maggie said.

Kara and Maggie went in one direction, and Alex headed back to Lena's room.

Sitting in the chair next to Lena's bed, Alex said, "Maggie had an emergency and Kara went to stretch her legs and go grab some food. She's barely left this room in a week. My little sister's been really worried about you."

Not able to respond, Lena just stared.

"So, want to play some Candy Crush?"

Although she was lying down and could only move the top of her body, Lena recoiled slightly, and her face screwed up unpleasantly.

Alex chuckled. "Oh, I couldn't agree more. Do you know what a bio-engineer is?"

Lena nodded, smiling slightly.

Alex smiled back. "You know, you may be perfect. Why aren't I dating you?"

Slowly Lena's eyebrows rose toward her hairline.

"Uh…no. That's not what… Just forget I said that."

Lena's smile grew again, and she shook her head.

"Great," Alex said, slumping in her chair. "Maybe I should have stuck with Candy Crush."

When Kara came back, Lena was sleeping. Kara reached out, brushing stray bits of hair from across Lena's face. It felt so different now, seeing Lena asleep, breathing on her own instead of having air forced down her lungs by some damn machine. Shaking her head, Kara realized they weren't damn machines but blessings that kept Lena alive until she could heal. At this moment they needed to count every blessing they could find.

Alex sat in the chair that doubled as a bed, also asleep. They'd all been so tired this past week, all done in physically and emotionally. Even Lena who'd just opened her eyes a few hours ago, especially Lena, was exhausted. Who knew how long it would take them all to come through the other end of this. The important part was to keep moving forward.

Looking at Lena's table, Kara smiled and picked up the latest in a series of stale donuts that sat there waiting for Lena to wake up. Kara tapped it gently on the table, enjoying the way it bonked solidly against the surface, and then threw it and the napkin away. This offering to the gods was no longer needed. It had done its trick. For a week a new donut had sat out there every day so Lena could join in Kara's daily carbohydrate fest and Lena's music had played. There was no more need for the donut, not until Lena could actually eat one, but the music…

Gently pulling Lena's phone from where it lie on the sleeping woman's chest, Kara tapped the code into the keypad to unlock it. When the phone just buzzed signaling the incorrect code had been entered, Kara frowned and reentered it but was met with the same results. She knew then that Lena had changed her code, had locked Kara out. Why? What had changed in these few short hours since Kara had been gone? Was it that, or was it everything that Kara had done while Lena lay in that hospital bed? The whole time Kara felt like they'd grown closer, but had they in fact grown further apart?

Curiosity growing into anxiety, Kara began to push buttons at the speed of Supergirl. She entered the numbers on the screen in order until the phone unlocked. This number could have been a date, but Kara didn't recognize it. She scrolled through screens on Lena's phone, her hand frozen as she didn't recognize herself at this moment. She was just about to put the phone down when she saw Lena's messages staring at her, almost daring to be checked. Looking around, Kara licked her lips then pushed the icon. There, on top, was the most recent text Lena had sent. It was the only one she'd sent in the last day though there were several unanswered from that person from days before. There was nothing older between them though as if all prior conversations had been erased, hidden away from prying eyes. It made Kara wonder how long it would be until this conversation would see the same treatment.

From the day after the shooting, that Friday, there was a text that read: "I just saw a news report. Are you okay?"

Hours later there was another text that read: "I know I'm not allowed to call your office, but you've never gone this long without responding to me, and the news report said you were shot. I'm scared. Call me."

At 8:37 PM on Friday, the night after the shooting in the club, there was a text that read: "It's Saturday at 2:30 in the morning now. You didn't even wish me good night. You always wish me good night unless something's wrong. I know you're hurt. I'm scared you're dead. I don't know what to do."

There were a series of texts on Saturday and Sunday, all from the same person looking for Lena. They were anxious, worried, scared, just asking for a response and making a note of not being allowed to contact her another other way or come out to see her. By Monday one thing had changed.

The next text said: "No one has contacted me. You said if something bad ever happened, something medically bad, that your lawyers would call me. Is this a cover-up? Are you not really hurt? Did someone kidnap you? Is it your mother? I know she's the one who worries you. Maybe I should come out there. Maybe I can help."

By Tuesday the texts said: "I've been reading your e-mails. There's no activity, so I used your e-mail access to hack into one of your work servers, and I've been going through the e-mails of your board of trustees. Your lawyers are going nuts! Someone messed with your durable power of attorney. Who is this Kara Danvers? What's your relationship with her and why don't I know anything about her? Are you okay?"

Wednesday the text said: "I booked a flight for Thursday 7:12 PM my time. I have to wait until after tests, or the headmaster will have my skin. I'm coming out to see you. I don't care what you say. If you're fine, then we can fight about it. If you're not…it's a 12 hours flight. I'll be there a little bit after midnight. I hope you're there to yell at me. I've never wanted to be screamed at by you so much in my whole life."

Kara stood looking at the phone, blinking. That was the end of the series of texts before Lena started texting back. She'd seen the name of the person who'd sent these once before, though the name was hardly unique. Still, given what Winn had said it made her more than curious. The person who sent these was Lori.

The next series of texts started with one from Lena and went back and forth between her and Lori.

Lena: "Do not get on that plane! Turn around and go home! I'm fine. Do you hear me?"

Lori: "What's the code word?"

Lena: "Ferris wheel"

Lori: "Oh, thank God! I thought you were dead! I want to come out to see you. I already have my ticket. Just let me come out to see you."

Lena: "Absolutely not. You know how that could end. You are never to step foot in National City, not even in this country until I know you'll be safe. No one can see us together. You know that."

Lori: "I don't care."

Lena: "I do. I'll do anything to keep you safe no matter what it costs."

Lori: "Even if it means I never see you again?"

Lena: "That will never happen. I promise you that. You trust me, don't you?"

Lori: "Yes. I miss you. I love you."

Lena: "I love you too, darling."

Lori: "Can I call you? I just want to hear your voice. I haven't heard you saying goodnight to me in a week, and I miss it. I've been listening to old voicemails of yours. That sounds stupid, doesn't it?"

Lena: "That sounds adorable. You're adorable. I save voicemails of yours also even though it isn't safe. Love makes us stupid, doesn't it?"

Lori: "You're stupid? I'm going to quote you on that."

Lena: "I'll deny it."

Lori: "Oh, by the way, who's Kara Danvers and why haven't I heard that name before?"

Lena: "I can explain that."

Lori: "Oh, I'm looking forward to this. I'm calling."

Lena: "Not now. I literally cannot talk right now. I'll text as soon as I can, okay? I'll at least text at your bedtime. I'm setting an alarm on my phone, so I don't sleep through it."

Lori: "Sleep through my bedtime? You're 6 hours before me. What's wrong with you?"

Lena: "Nothing, I'm just quite tired and need to rest. I'll be right as rain in a few days, and you'll be tired of hearing from me."

Lori: "That sounds like you."

Lena: "Doesn't it? Have a good day, darling. I love you. Goodbye."

Lori: "Bye. Love you too."

Kara stood staring at the end of that discussion, her mind racing. No wonder Lori was going to inherit most of Lena's everything. Lori was Lena's partner. Lena hid Lori away from the world, from her family, from danger. Kara couldn't blame Lena for that. Danger followed the Luthor name everywhere Lena went no matter Lena's intentions and deeds. Kara supposed she should be happy for Lena, happy that Lena had someone to love and to be loved by, but right now all Kara felt was a little bit sick.

There was a small mumble and some motion signaling Kara that Alex was waking up. She closed the texts, placing Lena's phone back onto the woman's sleeping body as she turned to face her sister. A few stretches and yawns later, Alex opened her eyes with a few blinks.

"Oh, hey, you're back." Alex looked around the room. "Where's Maggie?"

"Filling out paperwork. They made a lot of arrests. Supergirl was very helpful. There are fewer members of the Kushku organized crime family loose on the streets right now."

Sitting up Alex nodded and stretched her back. "Supergirl is always helpful like that. Man, do they make these chair things purposefully uncomfortable so you don't stay long? It isn't like you're here by choice."

"Alex?" Kara pulled up a different chair and sat down across from her sister. "Can I ask you something?"

"Anything," Alex replied in a serious matter noting the concern in her sister's voice.

"Winn once told me that when you meet the right person, it will just hit you like 'Wham Pow'. I thought that was James. He's great, amazing, but…" Kara shook her head. "Then there was Mon-El, and I thought he would be perfect. He's like me, you know, different like me. I thought different like me was what I needed."

When Kara just sat quietly, Alex took her hand and said, "Different like you wasn't what you needed."

Kara shook her head.

"Do you know what you want to ask me?" Alex asked.

"Not really," Kara admitted. "Well, you love Maggie, right?"

"I do."

"How did you know?"

"Ooof." Alex leaned back in her chair, staring at the ceiling for a moment before looking at Kara again. "You know my path wasn't the most direct one, right? I had to kiss a lot of princes, and it never felt right, before I found my princess."

"I'm going to tell Maggie you called her a princess."

"Please don't. She'll punch me. Although she looks hella hot in a dress. True story. Sometimes you just need to get out of your own way I guess. I was always so worried about being perfect, about living up to some ridiculous set of standards that I thought I had to meet, that I forgot about being happy."

"That's all Eliza ever wanted for you, you know, happiness," Kara reminded her sister.

"I know," Alex replied with a small laugh. "That's the most ridiculous part. I'm the one that decided that being straight was part of this perfect criteria. I'm the one that was paralyzed with fear. I made myself unhappy for years and for what? I have no idea. Was I really more worried about what people who didn't know me would say about me, or what my folks would think about me, than what I would feel? I don't know. I guess for years I was happy enough, but that was because I didn't understand what truly happy felt like. I could never go back. Once you've been truly happy, you can never go back."

"What does that mean to me?" Kara asked.

"Sweetie, your situation is different. I can't tell you what you feel, and I'll never tell you what to think. I know my mom and dad told you for years to hide who you really were. I did too. It was done to protect you. Now you only get to shine for a few moments of the day, but Kara Danvers still hides herself from most everyone. Kara, even with those of us that know the truth, you act differently when you take off those glasses and put on that cape than when you're sitting around in a pair of slacks and a sweater. I think Supergirl in many ways is you, and Kara is a disguise. Do you know how to be you twenty-four hours a day?"

Kara examined her hands and then asked her sister, "How do you know when you're in love?"

"I can't answer that for you. No being in the galaxy, in any galaxy, can answer that for you. When you're in love, Kara, you're in love."

Kara nodded, then asked, "What if the person you love loves someone else?"

"What does that matter? What does how someone feels about someone else, or even about you, have to do with how you feel about them? All you have to worry about is your heart and what it's telling you. When it comes to love, you need to learn to shut out all of the noise from the rest of the world and listen to your heart."

Leaning forward and putting her head on her sister's shoulder, Kara said, "Thank you for coming home. I really needed you this week."

"There was nowhere else in the world…the universe that I would have rather been than by your side. You're my sister. Family comes first."

While Kara nodded and they held each other, Alex watched Lena sleeping nearby. She was the unnamed topic they were discussing. Alex supposed she owed Maggie an apology, and somehow Alex needed to get her gaydar fixed while she was at it. Maggie's seemed to be functioning at high precision. Maybe Maggie could fix Alex's. That was a topic for another day.


	7. 7-Everything That I Do, I Do For You

Friday morning Kara wandered down the hallway of the hospital toward Lena's room, a box of donuts and crullers in hand. Okay, technically it was only a half filled box, but no one actually expected her to get here with the contents intact. That would be like asking an orca to watch over the seal herd. To Kara Danvers, the smell of fried dough glazed with sugar was her blood in the water. She was simply circling the box and picking off the stragglers.

Kara arrived an hour before visiting hours technically started, but if it had been up to her, she wouldn't have left last night. However, Lena had insisted that Kara go home and sleep in her own bed for once. There was a discussion, not a long one but a discussion, and in the end, Kara found herself heading home for the evening. In retrospect, Kara had no idea how she'd lost a debate to a woman who couldn't even talk. Thus was the power of Lena Luthor: CEO, billionaire, woman who could control a conversation simply by lifting one perfectly shaped eyebrow. Though Kara had never seen it, she assumed Lena must be a terrifying sight in a boardroom. Everyone had their super power. For some, it was heat vision. For others, it was just a power glare.

As she strode through the doorway into Lena's room, nodding her head at security that had stepped down from high alert now that Lena was conscious, Kara stopped to assess Lena. The woman was still flat on her back in bed but oddly active. There was a hospital table over her piled with newspapers and another pile of work papers stacked twice as deep. Far to the left on the table sat the remote control for the TV. A flat-screen television hung down from the ceiling over Lena, tilted as far back as it could manage, nearly parallel with the ceiling. On it, news blathered as stock prices scrolled across the bottom at racing speed. Lena held a thick handful of papers, studying something with a combination of great interest and concern even as she made marks in the margin with a pen. Kara was mainly impressed that the pen managed to write upside down.

"Glad to see you're still resting," Kara said sarcastically while pushing the newspapers to the center of the table which covered Lena's bed, resting the donut box in their place.

Lena gave Kara a sideways glance, then a small clearing of her throat, before she went back to her staring match with her paper.

"Seriously, you're healing Lena. When we agreed I'd sleep in my own bed last night it was with the agreement that you'd rest and recuperate. What time were you up this morning?"

"U.S. time or Hong Kong time?" Lena asked in a voice that sounded like she'd been a three pack a day smoker for the past thirty years.

"Hey! You have your voice back," Kara said with great enthusiasm.

"This?" Lena pointed to her throat with the back of her pen. "This is not my voice. When you find the person to whom this voice belongs, please let them know I'm anxious to exchange it for mine again. Ice chips."

"Ice chips?"

"Ice chips," Lena repeated as she used her pen once again to point. On the side table next to the head of her bed was a little Styrofoam cup and within, ice chips and a small amount of melted water. "I'm not allowed to drink water yet. I think they fear I'll drown. I'm frightfully thirsty though, so ice chips."

"Oh." Grabbing the cup, Kara held it out to Lena who looked up at it causing Kara to lower it to bed level.

"Thank you," Lena said lying her paper on herself as she reached across with her left hand and tried to extract an ice chip between two fingers.

After a few seconds, Kara reached in, pulling out an ice chip and holding it up to Lena's lips.

"Oh, I…thank you," Lena replied opening her mouth as Kara slipped the chip between her lips.

Kara nodded, one finger touching Lena's lower lip as Kara moved her hand away. A touch of moisture remained on her fingertips from the ice. She couldn't help but notice how dry Lena's lips were, not they're usual luster, their rich fullness. Even as Lena applied pressure on the chip in her mouth, Kara reached into the cup grabbing a second chip and taking it out to carefully trace along Lena's lips. She went from staring at those lips to looking into green eyes that stared widely at her, surprised at the intimacy of the gesture.

"Lena, I…" Kara pulled back her hand as the heat of her fingers melted the ice, making the water run past Lena's lips and down the side of the woman's face.

Lena gasped, rubbing at the side of her face even as Kara dropped the ice remnants back into the cup and tried to dry Lena with a sweater sleeve. It was well meant but awkward on Kara's part.

"I'm so sorry Lena. Are you…?"

"Moist and a bit surprised," Lena replied wiping at the back of her neck with her hand. "It's nothing. Don't bother."

"I've a better idea," Kara replied digging through her bag and pulling out a small lip gloss. Unscrewing the lid, Kara rubbed her ring finger along the top and then carefully applied the product to Lena's lips. It was a start. "That will have to do for now. Your lips are chapped from a week without drinking, though I know you had an IV. It's…it's not the same. I'll run out later and get you something for your lips unless you want me to get you something right now," Kara offered as she stood.

"Sit Kara," Lena offered even as she took Kara's hand in her own, tugging gently. "Now, what's really on your mind?"

"On my mind?"

"You want to tell me what's been going on for the past week, what I've missed? I was out of it last night, but still, you felt off. I convinced them to stop the pain meds so that I could start to function now. They have me on steroids to hopefully reduce the swelling in my…" Lena looked down and to the left as her voice trailed off, unable to complete that sentence. When she looked at Kara again that topic had been left behind. "You still feel off, Kara. Is it just me, this place? What is it? Tell me what's on your mind?"

"I, uh…" Kara slid into the chair as ordered, closing the lid on the lip loss and returning it to her bag. Fingers fumbling over each other, she shook her head having no idea where to start. What hadn't happened this past week? As her mouth ran dry, she nearly grabbed the cup of ice chips for herself. Instead, she opened her mouth and blurted out something, anything, which would be somewhat relevant but not require more courage than she had at this moment. "I saw your mother."

"What!? You saw…where?"

"It was just some apartment building. She sent me a message to meet her. She gave me the information on the person who shot you."

Lena's dark brow drew together, a deep line growing between them as she asked, "Why would she do that?"

"Well,…she's your mother."

"What's her end game?"

Kara realized neither question had been aimed at her. Lena was simply speaking out loud, allowing her mind to work while she mused about it. It wasn't a process Kara had seen before, but she understood it.

Trying to interact again, Kara slid a hand onto Lena's arm and said, "She's your mother. Maybe she just wanted to help you."

The response came with the smallest of snorts before eye contact was made. "The only person she ever wants to help is herself. Whatever she did, for whatever purpose she did it, Lillian did it for her own selfish reasons. She used you, Kara. Don't ever think otherwise, and don't ever go near her again. She's dangerous. The only reason you walked away from her unscathed is that she needed you to do something. In that moment, your life was more useful than your death. Trust me. I've lived that existence and outlived it."

"But…she helped you," Kara replied, not yet ready to give up on this. It wasn't that Lillian had done something good, but that by associating with Lillian she'd done something good.

"How? How exactly did she help me?"

"She gave me the name of the man who shot you and Supergirl brought him to justice," Kara replied with strength and pride.

"And that helped me?"

"Well…yes," Kara said, her voice fading off at the end.

"If this man had not been arrested, how would things be different for me right now?" Lena asked.

Mouth slightly open, Kara searched for a reply that didn't come.

"Kara, dear, you're sweet. My mother is manipulative and ruthless. She's also incredibly dangerous. The best thing that can be said is that she needed you alive, but that may not always be true. Stay away from her. If you can, stay a continent away. Understand?"

"She said she never left National City."

"Fabulous," Lena replied in a tone of voice that said the opposite. "Of course if she said it then it's likely a lie, or perhaps it's true, and we're to think it's a lie because…ugh. I can't tell with that woman. She lies more easily than most people breath."

Something shifted on the TV, catching Lena's attention. She grabbed the remote, turning up the volume so that she could hear it more clearly. It also drew in Kara's attention causing her to lean and turn so she could see the screen. It showed Supergirl, some of what she'd done over the past few days. It went from the fight at the docks to her dealing with the police hostages at Central Holding. Kara was expecting a fairly positive outlook, but when the headline read, 'Supergirl, Out for Blood', she was taken aback.

The news announcer said, "The cargo ship still lays on its side on the docks and authorities have said they're looking into the process of being able to move it safely back into the water again. Dozens of arrests were made that day, all in relation to the Dushku family which is alleged to have ties to organized crime. The police wouldn't comment any further, but just days later a hostage situation broke out, and sources inside the police confirmed for us that one Andri Kastrati, an alleged hitman for the Dushku family, was being held there in police custody. It is believed that Mr. Kastrati was cooperating with the police and testifying against the Dushku family." The scene showed the police station, cops outside with loudspeakers and the area cordoned off. Then Supergirl showed up, and there was yelling, screaming, then bodies came flying out of the building. "Supergirl's usual finesse is gone this past week, and it leaves us all to speculate what's gotten into her. Is she under the effect of some mind altering drug? Is this permanent? Will it continue to grow? For now, this seems to be contained to the criminal population, but what defines a criminal? Jaywalkers take note. You could be next. This is…"

Lena shut off the TV, shaking her head. "Jaywalkers take note. Well, that's a bit excessive, though it does seem our girl is out of sorts. None of that looks her usual level of control. You know her fairly well. What do you think is going on with the girl of steel Kara? Kara? Kara!?"

"Hmmm? What?" Kara repeatedly blinked, focusing back on Lena. "Oh, me, Supergirl? No I mean, uh…" Taking a breath, Kara let it out slowly and regained her composure. "What do I think is going on with Supergirl?"

Lena nodded, the concern she was feeling showing on her face.

"Well, those people were criminals. That's what she does. She fights criminals and turns them over to the police. She was just doing her job."

"Darling, that wasn't her job. That was excessive. Plus I've read the paper. She seems to be targeting the Dushku family. That's the same group you wrote about in your article. Any connection there?"

"Well…" Kara nodded. "I gave Supergirl the name of the man who shot you. It took a bit, but she tracked him down for me. That's what happened at the docks. He was the one in police custody that caused the hostage situation. Supergirl is…well she cares. Someone tried to kill me, and she helped. Someone did shoot you, and she stopped them. She cares Lena."

"Supergirl cares?" Lena asked, her eyebrows high and her voice slow and leading.

"Supergirl…I…" Hands on either side of her glasses frame, Kara pushed them back into place. This time she held them there, frozen with indecision. She was on a precipice now. She could move her hands, leave the glasses in place, and be Kara Danvers sitting here with her friend. She could pull the glasses off and let her hair down and be her true self, all that she is, and really let Lena see her. Taking off that protection made her vulnerable, opened her to rejection, and there was so much going on in Lena's life right now. Did Kara think this was the right time to add more?

While Kara sat frozen by indecision, someone else walked in and said, "Time to check your vitals Miss Luthor."

He was a man in blue nurse's scrubs. African American, tall, and fairly muscular, he stood smiling with a small, plastic tray in hand. It contained a few tools of his trade.

Lena glared at him. "Why don't I take your temperature instead? I know exactly where to put that thermometer."

"Ouch," the man said with a smile. "No thank you, ma'am. You're the only pain in the ass I need." Ignoring Lena's grumblings, he grabbed her chart off the foot of her bed and walked around to her other side, putting a digital thermometer in her ear.

"Kara, this is Jake. He's the person being overpaid to wake me in the middle of the night and jab me with needles," Lena said as she did her best to glare at Jake out of the corner of her eye.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Danvers. Your girlfriend reminds me of my time in the military in Afghanistan. She's sweet. Her temperature is also perfectly normal."

While he wrote it on Lena's chart and also took note of her other vitals from the machines near her, Lena stared at Kara. Wide-eyed in a way that demanded attention, her mouth opened but she paused. Kara's hand flew to her mouth, one finger covering lips as she begged Lena to say nothing. Then that hand came forward, several inches from Kara's face as she held it out, slightly trembling, begging Lena to say nothing. Lena nodded, but her face said this conversation was imminent.

"Okay, well I'll be back later to stab Miss Luthor again. Nice meeting you Miss Danvers," Jake said.

"Nice meeting you, uh…" Kara looked at his name badge, and it said, 'J. Knight' "Nice meeting you Mr. Knight."

"Please, call me Jake."

She smiled, holding out her hand as she stood. "Call me Kara."

"Thanks, but I probably shouldn't Miss Danvers," he replied shaking her hand. "Until this job is done, you're dating my boss.

As he left, Kara followed and closed the door behind him.

"Explain," Lena said as soon as Kara turned.

"It was an accident."

"An accident," Lena repeated.

Kara nodded.

"Well, that's insufficient. Come sit down and actually explain this situation. This has something to do with that durable power of attorney you forged?"

"…yes," Kara admitted slowly as she slid back into the chair.

Lena rolled a hand in front of her. "Just go on Kara. What am I going to do to you? I can't exactly get up, and I'm not even capable of yelling right now. If you were ever going to break…difficult? Let's call this difficult news. If you were ever going to break difficult news to me, now would be the time."

Kara nodded, seeing Lena's point. "You understand I was only trying to help, and everything I did was with good intentions."

At that Lena chuckled slightly. "I knew that about thirty seconds after meeting you, and nothing has changed my mind since. Go on."

"So I forged a durable power of attorney because I was worried that someone else would have control over you while you were in the hospital and would hurt you. You see—"

"How?"

"Hmmm?"

"How did you forge a durable power of attorney?" Lena clarified. "I mean it's one thing to put together a document that might fool a nurse on the night that I'm admitted. It's another thing to hold off my pack of attorneys for a week. I have some of the most ruthless sharks in the business working for me. These are not good people, but if they're working for me, then they can't be working against me. I control their actions and pay them ludicrously well to make sure that something exactly like what you did never happens. How did you do this? Who helped you?"

Squaring up her shoulders and pushing back her glasses, Kara replied, "A good reporter never reveals her sources."

Lena inhaled deeply, her head tipping back slightly, eyebrows raised as her green eyes seemed to burn right into Kara. "Oh, you will tell me. I will crack you like an egg, Miss Danvers." Lena stared while Kara squirmed beneath the power of her glare, but after just a few seconds, Lena turned away and waved a hand in Kara's direction. "But not right now. Right now I'm tired, and I want to hear the rest of this story. Later I'll take out my thumbscrews and show you L-Corp's version of the Inquisition, later, after I nap. Go on."

Kara nodded, relieved for the respite but also concerned as she didn't doubt there would be follow-up. "So I created a new durable power of attorney, with the assistance of an unnamed source. This unnamed source listed me on the document as…your domestic partner." Kara waited…and waited…and waited to see how Lena would react. She worried about anger or worse yet laughter. Over this last week playing the dutiful partner with Lena had begun to feel like many things to Kara but none of them was a joke.

Finally, Lena spoke. "Kara, I need to make one thing clear. I'm not living in your apartment."

"Wh…what?"

"I mean, it's very nice. Don't get me wrong. However, a girl gets used to a certain standard of living." As a thought occurred to her, Lena's eyes widened, and she smiled slightly. "Oh, Good Lord, did you tell my mother? Does she know? I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for that conversation. 'Hello, Kara Danvers. Here's the name of the man who shot Lena. What are your intentions toward my daughter?' As if she cares."

"What are we talking about?" Kara asked, well and truly lost in the conversation.

"Nothing," Lena said, patting Kara's hand. "I suppose I'm imagining what life would be like if mine were even slightly more normal, if my family were even a bit less Machiavellian. That's not the kind of life I get though. That's not the kind of life anyone gets once they're saddled with the last name Luthor. It's an accident of our birth, and I wouldn't wish it upon anyone."

"Are you mad about…?" Kara tilted her head to the side. Lena had a lot of reasons to be angry starting with her birth and ending with lying in this hospital bed. Maybe she should take her pick of reasons.

"I'm not angry with you Kara, not for anything. You don't have a bad intentioned bone in your body. I don't understand it, but I'm grateful to have that in my life so I can see what it looks like. I only hope I don't prove to be a bad influence on you."

"Never. You couldn't be. Lena, you're incredibly…" Kara put her other hand over Lena's, so it was between both of Kara's. "You're a good person. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. What matters is what you know."

Lena's smile grew. "It matters to me what you think."

"It does?" Biting her lower lip, Kara took a deep breath and said, "Lena, I think—"

When Lena's cellphone rang, they both turned to look at it. Lena stretched a hand for it, but it was out of reach. "Would you please?"

Kara nodded, picking up the phone and noting the name 'Lori' on the caller ID as she handed the phone over.

"Crap," Lena mumbled. "Why would she be calling? It's the middle of the day there. Kara, I've got to take this. Would you give me a few minutes please?" With a hand Lena shooed Kara off toward the door, answering the phone as she did so. "Hold on, hold on. Just a minute. Someone's in here." As Kara slowly made her way to the door, looking back over her shoulder, Lena urged her off with another hand gesture.

On the other side of the door, with it closed behind her, Kara stood against it with her eyes closed. She could hear Lena speaking inside. She could hear both sides of the conversation. The caller was crying, upset. Kara thought she might join her.

"What's wrong? Don't you have a class right now? Why are you calling?" Lena asked.

"I had a nightmare. I thought you were dead," the caller said amid tears and sniffles, her voice little more than ragged tears.

"Hey, I'm fine. It was just a dream. Why were you asleep? It's after one in the afternoon there."

"I've barely slept all week, and we've had finals. Today is an off day. I was up late last night texting with you and then I…well I broke into the hospital server to look over your records."

Lena groaned. "Of course you did."

"Some of the things I read—"

"How many years have I been telling you not to believe the things you read about me? I'm fine, Darling."

"You don't…you don't sound fine."

"My throat is sore. I've been sick, but I'm fine," Lena replied.

"Shot is not sick!" The caller yelled as she burst into sobs again.

"Did you just yell at me?" Lena asked, her voice all control.

There was no response at first, just jagged crying from across the phone, then a small and muffled, "…sorry." The voice sounded tiny, almost far away.

"What's really wrong?" Lena asked. "This is more than a bad dream."

There were some deep breaths, a few sounds of swallows, and then, "I dreamt you were dead, and when I woke up, I realized it could be true. I hadn't spoken to you, only texted with you. I realized someone could have gotten your phone, found out all about me, and been on their way to get me right now."

"Hey, I sent the code word."

"What if they got it from you? Your voice, it sounds…"

"Are you worried this isn't me?" Lena asked. When there was no response, she said, "Ask me anything."

"Well…tell me about my last birthday. Tell me something only you would know."

"Ah, clever." There was a pause, and then Lena said, "Well, I'm not going to tell you where we went or what I bought you. If someone knows about you, they could have tracked all of that down. How about this. After I had given you that locket that has our picture in it, we were lying up on that hill and looking at the stars. You were curled up on my shoulder, and you asked me for my thoughts. I told you I used to look at the stars when I was a child, and the vastness made me feel alone. There was just something about the cosmos that felt infinite and unyielding. Things have changed though. Aliens have come to this world. I said that I suppose we've actually just become aware of them as they've been here for longer that I have been. Now when I look up at that vast cosmos, stare into space and the twinkling stars, someone is staring back."

"Mmmm. You quoted someone. Do you remember that?" The voice asked across the line with a touch of a smile to it.

"Of course," Lena replied. "It was Michio Kaku."

"Care to quote her again?"

"Him," Lena said with a chuckle. "Honestly, Lori, did you really think you could trip anyone up with such a ham-fisted attempt? Who doesn't know who Michio Kaku is?"

A laugh came over the line in return, more a giggle than Lena's chuckle, and it was lighter, airier, but with a similar hint of confidence. Now when she spoke, now that the fear was edging away, the cadence was filled with self-possession that was reminiscent of Lena though the voice was smaller. "Oh, you'd be surprised. This snobby, little boarding school is filled with know-it-all brats who know very little. They've memorized quotes but know nothing about the people who've made them. They've gone to Greece and seen Athens but they've never heard of Meteora."

"Sounds ghastly. How do you stand them?" Lena asked with an obvious smile in her voice.

"Oh I don't," Lori replied. "I do what's required of me. I'm amiable, get through my classes, tutor, and have no social life."

"Honey, I—"

"Don't. It's my choice. Anyway, I'm only here until the end of the semester. Enough about me though. Who's Kara Danvers? You put me off on that last night via text. You promised me a conversation when we talked."

"Which I can barely do," Lena replied. "Plus I expect you're still tired. You should get some more sleep, and I should rest my voice."

"She said avoiding," Lori mumbled.

"Of whom does that remind me?" Lena asked.

"People learn each other's habits over time. They even start to mimic each other. Does Kara have any of your habits?"

"You're incorrigible."

"Are you involved with a woman in National City? I don't want a dismissal. I've read the durable power of attorney. I deserve a direct and honest answer."

"Yes you do," Lena admitted. "The answer is no. Kara is just a friend. She's likely the only friend I've made since I've come here."

"If she's your friend, then why haven't you mentioned her to me before? We talk almost every night. I feel like there's something you're not telling me. Why is she a secret?"

In the hallway, Kara leaned closer. Technically, she just turned her head since she was already flat against the door. She thought that was an excellent question.

"It's not like that, darling. You know I try to keep my life here separate from you. I want that for you. Kara, she's here. She's…nice, a good person. You'd like here. You two would like each other. I'm sure you'd be friends, but she's here. That can't happen. You're where my real life is, and when things are safe, we'll make that happen."

"I'll come to you?" Lori asked.

"Or I'll turn the business over to the board and move away and live with you."

"That won't happen. You'd be so bored and underfoot; I'd kick you out in two weeks," Lori replied. "No, I'll come live with you, and you can show me how your company works."

"It's our company. Everything that I do, I do for you. I love you."

"I love you too," Lori replied. "So why is Kara Danvers listed as your domestic partner? I sense a story here, perhaps a bedtime story?"

Lena laughed. "I was just getting that explanation when you called. As far as I can tell…"

Kara wasn't listening anymore though. Tears in her eyes, she wandered away to the stairwell and headed up to the roof. She didn't know where she was going, but she knew there was nowhere near enough air in the hospital right now. Kara wasn't sure if there was enough air on the planet, not for the way she was feeling, but she knew she couldn't look at Lena right now. As sick as she felt, the last place she wanted to be was a hospital.


	8. 8-I Just Have To Be Me

Kara flew around much of National City, trying to clear her head. It didn't grow clearer, and her heart didn't grow any lighter. In the past, flying had always lifted her spirits, but right now she felt so heavy she was surprised she was able to leave the ground at all. After close to an hour, Kara decided she needed some advice, so she headed over to talk to Alex. She flew in through the living room window, making her way toward her sister's bedroom when she heard a voice in there.

"Hey, Alex. Can I…? Oh!" Hand over her eyes, Kara turned away from the two women in bed.

"Kara!" Alex rolled off of Maggie, pulling covers over them both in a clumsy fashion. "No! We were just…um…"

"I think she knows what we were doing, Danvers," Maggie said with a grin as she slid behind her girlfriend again.

"Don't touch me," Alex said, slapping Maggie's hand away.

"What? I wasn't doing anything," Maggie protested.

"That's my sister," Alex said.

"Right, but she's not six. I'm pretty sure she knows what sex is. Plus all I did was put my hand on your shoulder. Unless this is some kinky Kryptonian thing," Maggie placed her hand on Alex's shoulder again. "I'm in the clear. Is this Little Danvers?"

Still facing the other way and hand still covering her eyes, Kara said, "I'll be in the living room." She left partway, reaching back to struggle to close the door without looking before finally leaving.

Flipping over to look at her girlfriend, Alex sighed loudly. "Look at what you did."

"What I…is this really some weird thing on Krypton?" Maggie asked again, touching Alex's shoulder. "I'm sure I've done that to you in front of her before. Hey, I think I've done that to Kara. That isn't really a thing, is it?"

Without replying, Alex got up and grabbed a robe, wrapping herself up and heading out to the living room. Kara sat on the couch, head down and glasses in her hand. The blonde looked miserable, red-rimmed eyes and pink nose signaling her recent crying jag. One didn't have to be her sister and know her well to understand Kara's mood, but it helped.

"What's going on?" Alex asked as she took a seat near her sister.

"I'm sorry about…" Kara made a vague gesture to the bedroom without looking up.

"It's okay, mortifying, but okay," Alex replied. "Next time knock before you come in?" Alex asked as she looked back at the front door, seeing it still locked. She looked at her sister again, seeing Kara was still dressed not as Supergirl, but as herself. "Kara, were you flying around like that?"

Kara nodded in silent dialogue with her shoes.

"Hey." Sliding a bit closer and reaching across, Alex squeezed Kara's wrist. "Is Lena okay?"

Finally, Kara made eye contact. "She seems a bit better today. She's awake and talking, but her voice is rough. Her spirits are…good. She's Lena. You can't keep Lena down."

"Well, that's good. Right?"

"I guess," Kara said, eyes dropping to the floor again.

"Hey, talk to me. I'm up here, not down there," Alex reminded her sister. "You flew over here for a reason. I don't think it was to embarrass both of us, though if it was, job well done. If you want to talk, talk to me."

Kara nodded, inhaling deeply and then slowly letting the air slide out across her lips. "I…Lena…" She lifted her head, meeting Alex's eyes and shrugging.

"Go on," Alex urged.

"Lena's seeing someone."

Alex leaned away from her sister, elbow on the back of the couch as she took that in. "You don't mean a specialist, do you?"

Kara's response was a slow headshake and then the words, "Her name's Lori."

"Lori, well that's…I was going to say promising, but I can see how someone might feel otherwise if they happened to have feelings other than friendship for Lena. If Lena's involved with a woman that does mean something, doesn't it?"

"I don't follow."

"Maggie was dating someone else when we met and look at us now," Alex said gesturing toward the bedroom. She and Kara stared at each other awkwardly, and Alex shook her head saying, "Okay take that image forever out of your head."

"Consider it done," Kara assured her sister.

Sitting upright, Alex said, "What I mean is, possibilities Kara. Lena is attracted to women. She just needs the right woman in her life."

"I think she already has her."

"Okay, fill me in on what you know, and I want all of it. If I'm going to help you, I need to understand what's going on. Now, Lena is dating this Lori?"

Kara nodded.

"Lena told you this?"

After a brief hesitation, Kara shook her head.

"Spill it."

"I…overheard them talking."

"For real overheard or you overheard."

"Me overheard," Kara admitted.

"Kara," Alex said in her best disappointed voice. "No. Never. Look, I'm a highly trained agent working for a covert government department that doesn't technically exist. When my girlfriend goes to take a shower, and she gets a text, I don't touch her phone. My girlfriend is a police detective with instincts so sharp you could cut yourself on them. I expect the same level of respect from her. Neither one of us has anything to hide in our personal life, but we deserve privacy. As soon as either of us crosses that line, we destroy that relationship. Do you understand?"

"I also read her texts."

Deflating, Alex dropped her face into her hands, elbows on her knees. She sat there for about half a minute. Her sister was Supergirl, the girl of steel. Bullets bounced off of Kara. Supergirl was faster than a jet plane and had saved the world from meteor storms and alien invasions. However, at her center was Kara Danvers, geeky tween who never fit in and was a stranger on a strange planet. Kara spent so long trying to convince everyone that she wasn't extraordinary in any way. Somewhere along the line, she seemed to have convinced herself also.

Alex held up a single finger, "Thing one, don't tell Mom. She'll blame me for this somehow. You know she will." She lifted her head meeting her sister's eyes, then raised a second finger to her sister. "Thing two, don't ever do anything like this again, not to a friend. We listen in on conversation and read e-mails and texts for missions. Things like this destroy friendships, destroy relationships. You don't want that, do you?"

Head shaking, tears leaked from Kara's eyes again.

"Well don't start crying," Alex said wiping Kara's tears with her thumbs. "You know I'm a sympathetic crier. You'll cry, and then I'll cry. Maggie will come out and act all tough, but she'll tear up. It will be awful."

"Maggie's showering."

"She's showering?"

Kara nodded. "She's singing too. She's not bad." When Alex glared at her, Kara said, "What? I'm not listening in. It's just…she's pretty good."

"Fine, but no more snooping on Lena unless it's a mission, agreed?"

"Agreed."

"So, since you already know all about this Lori, who is she exactly?"

Kara sighed. "All I know is Lena loves her. Lori lives in Switzerland. She's a teacher at some fancy school. She wasn't very nice about the kids there though. She called them brats. Lena said that when it was safe, she either wanted to move to live with Lori or want to move Lori to live with her."

"When it was safe? What does that mean?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's about Lillian?"

"Maybe," Alex admitted. "I can see Lillian trying to use anyone in Lena's life to get at her. If Lillian knew that Lena loved someone that person would be vulnerable…if that person was vulnerable." Kara and Alex held eye contact for several seconds, and then Alex asked, "Anything else?"

"Just that they love each other. When they said it, I felt it. Lena said everything she did she did for Lori. They talked about curling up together under the stars and…" Kara dropped her face again. "I'm happy for her."

"You don't have to be."

"I am though." When Kara looked up again, she had a small smile on her face. "I felt this sort of connection to Lena because I thought she had no one. I mean I have you, your family, and that's great, but Lena lost her birth family. She didn't lose them like I did, but it was still awful. Lillian would show up in her life and dangle the promise of love at her, but Lena didn't take it. I could see she wanted it too. I knew because I wanted something in my life. I always wondered if I hadn't had you and Eliza how I would have turned out. If I had been Lena, would I have been able to walk about from what Lillian was offering? Maybe she could because of Lori. If so maybe I owe Lori a big thank you, maybe we all do."

"You don't have to thank Lori. You don't have to be Supergirl all the time. Sometimes you get to be Kara Danvers and just sit around feeling sorry for yourself eating ice cream. I bet I have some ice cream if you want some."

Kara shrugged.

"Well now, I don't believe that. You always want ice cream. How about instead of talking about Lena and Lori's feelings, we talk about Kara's feelings. You want to do that?" Alex asked.

"I said I was happy for Lena."

"Right, you're happy for Lena. You can be happy for Lena and also be sad for Kara. How about that?"

Kara leaned to the side, her head landing on her sister's shoulder. "I'm confused."

Rubbing at Kara's head, Alex said, "I'm very familiar with that feeling. I feel confused most every day."

"Still?" Kara said peering up at her sister. "I mean, do you still get confused around Maggie?"

"Maggie?" Alex laughed. "I definitely get confused around Maggie. Women are incredibly confusing. Just when you think you understand them, that's when you realize you don't understand them."

"But…you are a woman."

"That doesn't matter." Alex patted Kara on the back. "Come on. Sit up. I'm going to share some secrets with you."

"Things I don't know about you?" Kara asked as she sat up.

"Things we humans don't normally tell to Kryptonians."

"For real?"

"Well, since there's only two of you, and I don't think anyone's had this little heart-to-heart with Clark, I'm going to go with yes. So the thing about me is, I'm not attracted to Maggie because I'm gay, and I'm not gay because I'm attracted to Maggie. I'm gay, and I'm attracted to Maggie. Those things are separate and true. Do you understand?"

Nodding slowly, Kara considered Alex's words then nodded with more vigor.

"So I could be gay and not be attracted to Maggie. I could not be gay and still be attracted to Maggie. Still with me?"

"But…? If you weren't gay, and Maggie's a woman, then how—"

"It's not black and white Kara. I am gay. I am attracted to Maggie. However, being attracted to one woman on this planet doesn't make you gay. Being attracted to one woman on this planet doesn't make you anything. The only thing you ever have to be is you. Are you following me?"

Relaxing visibly, Kara stated, "I just have to be me."

"I think that's enough, Kara. Being you seems like more than enough. Now, if your heart tells you something, listen to it, but don't worry about labeling it. You're already flying around town with a big S in the middle of your chest. Just let who you are grow. You'll figure it out. Don't force it."

Tears welling up in her eyes again, Kara said. "Clark left me with Eliza and Jeremiah because he thought I needed them, and I did. I needed you too, Alex. I still need you. I think now I need you more than ever."

"Oh, Kara." As her sister hugged her, Alex held her as said, "I need you too. Don't make me cry."

They held each other and cried, not loud sobs but gentle little tears that they both needed. It was a conversation at least a week in the making, but that had to take a back seat to Lena's survival. Now that she was going to live, Kara had to decide what came next. Whatever it was, Kara wouldn't do it alone. That's what sisters were for.

"Uh…" Maggie stood in the middle of the living room, watching the sisters embrace. "Sorry to interrupt, but I have to go to work."

"I thought you had the day off," Alex said drying her tears with the back of her hand. "You worked three different days when you were on vacation. You're supposed to be off today."

Holding out her hands and walking backward toward the front door, Maggie replied, "And yet here I go to work yet again. It's like once the Chief found out I was back in the city, he no longer cared about my vacation time."

"That's not fair. We were going to…" Alex cleared her throat, gesturing with her head toward the bedroom. "You know…that thing."

"I know. Don't talk to me though. Talk to her," Maggie said, pointing at Kara.

"Ewww! That's disgusting Maggie," Alex said recoiling.

"Not that," Maggie replied. "The mayor is putting together a new organize crime task force, and I'm getting pulled into it. Since the Dushku family got wiped out, it created a vacuum."

"Isn't that good?" Kara asked.

"Kid, nothing exists in a vacuum. Nature abhors them, so we've got new players moving in. The Dushkus controlled the docks. Anything illegal came in on ship to the west coast, you can bet they were involved. Someone was just waiting for them to be removed. Normally it's someone in their organization that takes over, but you toppled those dominoes pretty good. This is new and domestic as far as we can tell."

"Domestic?" Alex asked.

"Look, I'll know more after my briefing. Dinner tonight?" Maggie asked as she kissed Alex.

"Uh, sure. Meet here?"

"Sounds good," Maggie said, waving as she left. "See you, Little Danvers. Oh, how's Lena this morning?"

"Good, better. She's talking."

"Awesome. Tell her I said hi. Hey, if I get a chance I'll try and stop by the hospital, okay? When they clear her to eat food, maybe we can bring something in, and all have dinner together."

"Okay," Kara replied while Maggie and Alex Kissed again, but this time more briefly. Kara watched, not for the first time envying their relationship. It was easy, loving, in balance. Kara wanted that in her life. She didn't know how to do that. She knew she'd need to be honest with someone to do it, but first, she needed to be honest with herself.

Closing the door on Maggie, Alex turned to Kara and asked, "Want to join us for dinner?"

"No, I've already intruded on you and Maggie enough today."

"Honestly, Kara, it's fine. Leave before dessert, and I don't mean food, but join us for dinner. Lena isn't eating yet I'm sure. I bet she dozes off early. Give me a call and let me know, but I'll plan to have enough food for you, okay?"

Kara considered then smiled as she asked, "And ice cream?"

"Now, that's my little sister."

They hugged again, and Kara left the same way she'd come in, taking to the air and landing in a safe place near the hospital. Although nothing had changed but her outlook, Kara was feeling much more optimistic as she headed back inside. Lena's door was open and voices coming from inside as she headed that way. One was from Lena and the other from a woman Kara didn't know.

When Kara entered hesitantly, she saw a woman in a white lab coat over her red shirt and dark slacks. She was Caucasian, in her mid-thirties, and had short, brown hair. She sat in a chair next to Lena, the same one in which Kara had slept for a week, and had it reclined back. In her hands was a tablet and she was pointing to the screen as she spoke.

"Am I interrupting something?" Kara asked, feeling awkward as she entered.

Both women turned toward the voice, but it was Lena who waved Kara in and said, "Kara, I wondered to where you'd disappeared. Dr. Queen, this is Kara Danvers my…partner."

Hand extended to greet the woman who stood to meet her, Kara's eyes widened in surprise at Lena before she blinked hard once.

Lena shrugged in response.

"Miss Danvers, it's nice to meet you," Dr. Queen said shaking Kara's hand, not noticing the discomfort or at least not commenting on it. "Miss Luthor and I were just going over her x-rays."

"Oh." Kara nodded, suddenly very interested but then realizing this might be a bit of an invasion. She was Lena's partner in name only. At this point, she was Lena's partner for the purpose of getting her into the room outside of visiting hours. She wasn't actually Lena's partner. Looking at Lena, she asked, "Do you want me here for this?"

"Pull up a chair, Kara," Lena directed. "The doctor here is just telling us how little they know."

"Really?" Kara asked as she grabbed a chair and pulled it over next to where the doctor had been sitting.

"I'm afraid she's right," the doctor said as she took her seat again but didn't recline. "I take it she does that often."

"Is right or make you feel like an imbecile in your area of expertise?" Kara asked.

"Ouch," Lena replied. "If you're going to stab me in the back, darling, could you aim a bit lower? I still have feeling between the shoulder blades."

Mouth open, Kara stared.

Raising an eyebrow, Lena smiled as she said, "Kara, that's a joke. If we don't keep our sense of humor, this is going to get simply dreadful. Doctor, please tell Kara what we do know before I make her cry. I may have slept the last week away, but I think it's been rather stressful on her."

"Hmmm." Flipping to an earlier screen on her tablet, the doctor brought up an x-ray of a spinal column. She flipped through three more screens, each one showing a closer view. Where the spine was varying shades of white, almost gray, especially in the areas between bones, the bullet was a bright white.

Kara was familiar with that. Her vision had bounced of lead often enough to know what it looked like when you couldn't pass through an object with your imaging, not that all bullets included lead now. She knew these had though. She'd looked inside Lena and seen them, seen them and not been able to see through them. Her eyes closed, Kara shuddered at that memory from the night at the club.

"Are you all right, Kara?" Lena asked.

Eyes opening, Kara saw both Lena and the doctor were watching her. "Oh, yes I…" She gestured at the x-ray. "I was remembering that night at the club. I didn't even see you get shot, Lena. I heard the sound of gunfire, and then you fell. I just stood there, watching you bleeding and…"

"Maybe now isn't a good time, Doctor. Why don't I—"

"No," Kara said, hand reaching across the doctor when she tried to stand. "I'm being ridiculous. Your medical care comes first. What do we know, or don't we know?"

"You're sure you're okay?" The doctor asked Kara.

Kara nodded.

Pointing at the screen, the doctor said, "Well, they removed the bullets, including this one that was lodged in her spine. They had to. She had a nasty bleed. Saving her life was the priority. Now, however, we'll look at restoring function."

"You said they," Kara pointed out. "You weren't one of her surgeons?"

"No, I'm from D.C. Miss Luthor has borrowed me from the government."

"Which agency?" Kara asked.

"That's need to know, and you don't need to know," Dr. Queen replied stoically. Then she laughed. "That was a joke. I'm with NIH, the National Institute of Health. We're part of Health and Human Services."

"So are you military?"

"Kara's a reporter," Lena explained. "She'll have your shoe size out of you before you leave here doctor."

"Ah. It's a seven and a half. Is there anything else Miss Danvers? I can get you my medical school transcripts," the doctor offered.

"I'm sorry. I just—"

"You care about your partner. Don't apologize for that."

Kara nodded. "So restoring function?"

"Yes, well the steroids may help if it's simply inflammation, but I'd like to get a clearer image to be sure. I've scheduled an MRI for the morning."

"Why not now?" Kara asked.

"She's pushy too," the doctor said to Lena. "You two make a good match. Miss Danvers, I'd like to give the steroids a bit of time to work. We'll get a better picture with less inflammation. Personally, I'd like to wait a few days but…" The doctor gestured at Lena.

"I'm pushy," Lena explained.

"That's going around," Kara said with a smile. "So a better image in the morning and then we'll know more?"

"I hope so," Dr. Queen replied. "We won't know less. We might have to wait and try again later, but we'll know more soon, and we can take therapeutic actions. Any questions?"

Both Kara and Lena shook their heads and then said goodbye to the doctor. Kara moved to the seat the doctor had vacated. Tomorrow they'd know…maybe. Hands on the sides of her glasses, she pushed them back up and considered something. She didn't have to wait until tomorrow.

"You don't want to wait a few more days for the steroids to work before you get an MRI?" Kara asked.

"I want answers," Lena replied. "My list of virtues is short, and patience is not among them."

"So, if you could find out today if you'd walk again, you'd want to know that?"

"Oh, I'll walk again, Kara," Lena replied with determination.

"How can you be sure?"

"Because I'm a Luthor. As awful as that is, it comes with it one trait that will come in quite handy in this instance. You see, Luthors are genetically predisposed to break the law. We do it as easily as that lovely smile appears on your face."

Kara smiled reflexively at the compliment, though it didn't last. She was still hung up on what Lena had said, "I don't understand. I don't agree either, about you being a law breaker, but I don't understand. How will that help you walk?"

"It's simple. You worry I won't be able to walk because of some silly little bullet in my spine. Science tells us that if my spinal cord is damaged at a certain region, I won't walk. There are certain physical laws by which the human body is governed, correct?"

Slowly, Kara nodded.

"I intend to break them. Let the natural science police come after me. I think I would be the first Luthor to be arrested by them."

As her smile grew, Kara said, "You're amazing, you know that?"

Lena smiled in return. "And you're smiling again."


	9. 9-You Won't Be the Last

"You okay?" Alex asked Kara as the younger sister stood around in the DEO facility wearing her Supergirl costume.

Kara nodded, not making eye contact, thrumming her fingers on a panel.

"That wasn't very convincing. What's going on, Kara and why didn't you show up for dinner last night?"

"I got busy."

"Too busy for food? I know for a fact that's a biological impossibility for you. Now spill it. What's going on?"

"It's Lena. She's getting an MRI this morning and told me not to waste my time coming by. It wouldn't be a waste," Kara added that last part as a mumble.

"She just doesn't want you standing around there doing exactly what you're doing here. Maybe you get on her nerves."

Kara shot Alex a dirty look.

"I'm not saying you get on my nerves," Alex added with a shrug. "Did they say when they'd have results?"

"No. How long does it usually take?"

"The actual MRI?" Alex considered that. "Maybe an hour depending on what they're doing. They likely know the region they're exploring but might want to continue below the injury site. It's the interpretation of the MRI that takes time. That's usually 24-48 hours."

"That long?"

"I…" Alex blew out some air. "She's Lena Luthor. I don't think she follows the rules."

"Or the laws. She breaks them," Kara said with a little, wistful smile.

"What was that?" Alex asked, smiling also and nudging her sister.

Kara's smile grew, and she said, "It's something Lena said. She promised she'd walk again. Lena said even if the law of biology, or something like that, said she wouldn't walk she still would. She said all Luthors are natural law breakers and the natural science police could come and arrest her for breaking the law."

"Oh, my God, Kara." Alex gently elbowed her sister again. "You are so crushing on her."

"I know," Kara said, giggling into her hand. "Don't tell anyone. Have you told anyone?"

"Maggie, only I didn't tell Maggie she told me."

"Maggie told you?"

"She's perceptive. I didn't know why you were being so…severe in your reaction to Lena being shot." While Kara sucked in air to fire back a response, Alex held up a hand and hurriedly added, "I'm not saying you shouldn't have been upset. It was horrible, Kara, just horrible. You deal with horrible every day though. With Kastrati, you crossed a line. You were more than toes over for several days there sweetie. The DEO thought you might take a big old step and if you did, there's no going back from that. Kara, if an alien becomes a threat to human life, you know that the DEO's job is then, don't you?"

Kara considered that not liking the answer. Instead of responding, she leaned her forearms on the console and thought about everything she'd felt those days when Lena was in a coma, and she was looking for the man who did it. She'd watched her world, Krypton, destroyed in front of her eyes, literally torn apart. It left her with an anger that seethed inside. When she turned and saw Lena fall to the ground, blood pouring out of the woman's body, it happened again. Her world was being destroyed in front of her eyes. When Krypton was destroyed, she had no place to focus that rage. This time she did. This time that rage had a name and that name was Kastrati.

"Hey, Kara, what's going on?" Alex asked rubbing little circles on her sister's back.

Kara dropped her head, shaking it. "He deserved it."

"Oh, no doubt about that. It's not about what he deserved though. It's about who you are and what you deserve. You deserve a good life, and you can't have it if you cross that line. Nothing about your life is fair Kara. Every day the world asks more of you than we ask of anyone else and gives you less in return. If I could give you any gift, I'd take your powers away. You deserve to be normal. You're not though. You're extraordinary and with that comes more rules and responsibilities than everyone in this whole DEO has to struggle with. Your life is one giant roll of red tape. I'm so sorry for that. I wish I could take this burden from you. I know how strong you are, but even you can't shoulder it all the time."

"I'm tired," Kara agreed with a nod.

"You're not perfect. No one's perfect," Alex reminded her.

"What about Maggie?" Kara asked looking to her side with a little smile.

"Oh, not even Maggie," Alex replied with a laugh. "The honeymoon ended months ago. Maggie is fantastic, and that means she's not perfect. I couldn't live with perfect in a relationship. I like my people flawed."

"I'm flawed."

"Yes you are, and you're going to make mistakes. You need to trust in us when we tell you those mistakes go too far, okay?"

"You think I made a mistake with Kastrati?"

Alex carefully considered her response. "I think he needed to be caught. I think you, for your own purposes, needed to be the one to catch him. You could work on your subtly a bit, and if you had gone any further then yes, you would have made a huge mistake. It isn't just about what you do, but how you're perceived by the public, and right now your image has taken a bit of a beating. Maybe no more ships dragged onto land for a little while? Could you do some kitten rescuing and maybe save some people from fires or something for a little while? We need to polish Supergirl back up, okay?"

Kara nodded. "I can do that. I like kittens."

When she heard booted feet headed their way, Alex glanced over her shoulder and added, "How about mending some fences here too?"

Kara looked back to see J'onn making his way to them and nodded.

"Good. I'm going to stay for this conversation."

"I don't need a babysitter, Alex."

"No, but the two of you might need a referee. Things have been pretty heated lately. I want to make sure it doesn't get to the point of needing an actual referee."

Kara nodded. If not for Alex's presence things might have gotten physical between her and J'onn the last time they saw each other, and they had been physical the previous time. Of course, both times Kastrati had been there. She hoped this time would be different. Still, the emotional wounds were fresh.

"Agent Danvers, Supergirl," J'onn said addressing them both professionally. "I'm here. What did we need to discuss?"

"Sir," Alex gestured to her sister. "Supergirl wanted to speak to you about some of the matters that have gone on this past week or so. It's been an emotionally charged situation, but we all need to be able to work together moving forward."

J'onn nodded, arms crossed against his chest as he leaned his head back slightly and faced the girl of steel.

Supergirl took a deep breath, not really sure where to start. She thought about some of the things Alex had said and tried to use some of that advice. "J'onn, I understand the DEO's job here. You have to protect the Earth from dangerous aliens."

When J'onn opened his mouth to speak, Alex put a hand on his forearm, shaking her head at him. She wanted Kara to say her peace. He'd have his chance, but if they were cutting each other off, this could get unpleasant fast.

"I understand that I have abilities that could make me a danger to this world if left unchecked. There are…certain lines I can't cross," Supergirl said, glancing over at her sister when she borrowed Alex's verbiage. "I came close."

"Very," J'onn mumbled, garnering him a glare from Alex.

"J'onn you better than anyone knows what it's like living among them but not being one of them. You know what it's like losing everything, your world, your family, and coming here and finding a new family after struggling to fit in." When Supergirl looked at Alex, J'onn's eyes followed, and his face softened. "Humans are frail, but in some ways, they make us even frailer. What would you do if someone took part of your new family from you? Where would you draw that line?"

Supergirl stood with her hand outstretched toward her sister. Hands on his hips, J'onn J'onzz, dropped his head and sighed. His world had burned, and he'd lost everyone, his wife M'yri'ah and his daughters included. There was a time, more than one time, he was ready to join them. There was a time he was ready to sacrifice his life for Alex's and join them. Then not soon after that, revenge against those that had taken his family and his world from him seemed at hand, and Kara had been the one who stopped him. He understood what Kara felt. He also understood why they drew that line. It wasn't so much for others but for themselves.

"Kara, do you remember when we fought the White Martian?" J'onn asked.

Brows pressed together, Supergirl nodded.

"Do you remember what you said to me after I put the Kryptonite cuffs on you?"

Supergirl breathed deeply, nodding as she replied, "I told you not to throw away everything that you are, or it would win. I told you that if you did that the last son of Mars would die even if you were still standing."

J'onn nodded once in reply. "I feel that hole in me Kara, the one you spoke of, and you're right. You can't fall into it. I lost my daughters when my world burned, but I found a new family eventually. I have new responsibilities, and I'll do anything to never lose part of my family again. I'll stand against anyone who tries to hurt part of my family."

"That's all I was trying to do," Kara argued.

"No, I'll stand against anyone who tries to hurt part of my family, who tries to destroy what they really are, and that includes you, Kara Danvers. If you had killed that man, you would have destroyed yourself as surely as I would have destroyed myself if I'd killed that white Martian. I will protect you from anyone, even yourself. My job isn't to make you like me. If I can help you to be someone that you like then I'm succeeding."

While Supergirl pouted, J'onn glared a bit. They both stood around quietly, but there was no violence. There wasn't even an imminent threat of violence. It was progress.

"You know, it wasn't exactly fair using her own words against her J'onn," Alex pointed out.

As his glare slowly subsided, he titled his head in acknowledgment. "Parenting isn't fair. Dealing with angry Kryptonians isn't fair. Put those two things together…" The hint of a smile came to J'onn's face.

"Kara, what do you say?" Alex asked.

"I'm not sorry," Supergirl said. "I brought him to justice and…well…I am sorry that I fought with you J'onn. I didn't like that. I never like fighting friends…family. I'm not sorry about bringing Kastrati to justice though."

"I wouldn't expect you to be," J'onn replied. "And I'm not sorry for getting in your way and doing what I had to do to keep you safe. That's my priority."

"Like calling my sister on me?" Supergirl asked.

"Hey, that was helpful. We're stronger together," Alex reminded her, tapping on the symbol on Supergirl's chest.

"That's true," Supergirl said. "Well, thank you for bringing Alex back. That was helpful, J'onn."

"And thank you for turning over Kastrati, Supergirl. I see you also got that ship back in the water," J'onn mentioned.

"Well, it was the least that I could do since…" Supergirl shrugged.

"Maybe we could all hug and make-up now?" Alex suggested.

J'onn and Supergirl eyed each other with a touch of suspicion, finally settling on a hearty handshake.

"Really?" Alex asked. "I thought I was the stubborn one in the family. Did I get the two most stubborn people from your planets dropped into my lap? That hardly seems fair."

"Family isn't fair," J'onn said clapping Alex on the shoulder as he winked at her. "I've got to go, but I'll see you both here at work?" He looked not at Alex but at Supergirl for confirmation.

Alex looked at her sister also, waiting to see where they were.

"I'll be here if needed," Supergirl agreed.

"Good. Alex, Supergirl," J'onn nodded once to each of them then walked back the way he came.

"Well, that could have gone better, but it could have gone a lot worse. You two still need to work out some things, but that was a start."

"He didn't ask about Lena," Supergirl said, her forearms on the console again as a deep frown set into her face.

"Supergirl." When that got no reaction, Alex put her hand on her sister's should and said, "Kara." Their gazes met, and Alex said, "J'onn has had hourly updates on her condition fed to him. That didn't stop when you released Kastrati. It wasn't about that man being released or not. It was about what's important to you, about who's important to you."

Considering that, Supergirl replied, "If her last name were anything but Luthor, everyone here would have treated her differently from the beginning."

"Almost everyone. You gave her the benefit of the doubt from the beginning, didn't you?"

"Almost. Being a Luthor may be who she is, but it isn't what she is. Everything she's done for us, for this city, that's what she is."

"I'm beginning to see that." Squeezing her sister's shoulder, Alex asked," Are you going to be okay?"

"Sure," Supergirl replied. "I'm going to go ask Winn if he can find me some kittens that need rescuing from trees. I have a tarnished reputation that needs polishing, and apparently, I get on people's nerves if I just hang around and don't make myself useful. Let me know if there's anything major to do. I'll have my com on."

As her sister walked away, Alex considered calling Kara back but decided space would serve the girl of steel better right now. What was really going on was the growing concern with unanswered questions around Lena's health. Those weren't going to get answered today. Those weren't going to get answered by anyone here. The best Kara could do was keep herself busy until they had something concrete to go on.

It was the usual night of heroic adventures for Supergirl, and Kara was actually feeling good about getting back to her regular schedule. As tiring as car chases and putting out burning buildings was, plus that one kitten in a tree, it was still routine. It felt great to get back into her normal patterns. Now, something else was part of the new routine…Lena. With a little smile, Kara headed toward the hospital.

It was late for a visit, but it wasn't too late to stop by a window and check in on the sleeping woman. Anyway, Kara knew she'd sleep better after she saw Lena sleeping. Maybe it didn't make sense, but when did feelings?

Stopping a distance from Lena's window, Supergirl was surprised to see the light fully on and motion inside. Lena was there, of course, but so was her neurosurgeon. Dr. Queen stood with her tablet in hand as before, but instead of showing anything to Lena she was just speaking. Supergirl thought perhaps she had missed the show-and-tell portion of this conversation. Lena looked stern, her lips drawn tight and there was tension around her eyes. Though it hadn't been her intention to spy, to do more than simply glance in on the sleeping woman for a few moments and then go home and go to bed, this had gotten Supergirl's attention.

Remembering her promise to Alex to not eavesdrop, Supergirl turned and flew away several feet. Eyes closed, she stopped and hovered in place. She could still see Lena's face in her mind. Something was wrong. Going home was the right thing to do. Lena would tell Kara tomorrow. Probably Lena would tell Kara tomorrow. Maybe Lena would tell Kara tomorrow. Her resolve fading to nothing, she used her hearing to focus on the conversation in Lena's hospital room.

"I see," Lena said, her voice as tight as her lips had looked before. "So exactly what does that mean to me?"

Dr. Queen began, "Well, there are a number of—"

"Don't," Lena interrupted. "You know me, Queen. I don't want false hopes or platitudes. I want the truth. Based on the damage that's been done to my spinal cord, what does modern medical science tell us?"

"Based on modern medical science?" The doctor cleared her throat. "Without being able to regrow nerves, you'll never walk again. You'll have fair control and balance while in a seated position. You'll likely be able to use a manual wheelchair, and perhaps even drive a modified car if either of those holds any appeal. You'll need specialized equipment when using the bathroom. You may be able to use a standing frame, but I wouldn't hold out hope for that."

Supergirl's breath caught in her throat even as her eyes snapped open. When would she learn to listen to Alex?

"Is that all?" Lena asked, far too calmly.

"That's not enough?" Dr. Queen replied.

"Well, I didn't know if you were starting with the good news and…" Lena gave a small and mirthless laugh at her humorless joke.

"I'm sorry, Lena."

"Well, no crying over spilled milk," Lena replied. "I'm tired. If you wouldn't mind, please turn down the light and close the door on your way out," Lena said dismissing the doctor.

"Of course."

Supergirl turned, first hearing the hushed footsteps on the linoleum floor and then seeing the light fade down to a fraction of its earlier self. She wanted to go to Lena, but the door hadn't closed yet. She couldn't go to Lena. There was no explaining her presence here, spying here.

"Lena?" Dr. Queen's voice pierced the darkness again. "I still have recommendations to make on your course of treatment. You're young and healthy. I think you're a valuable asset to the company."

There were several moments of quiet and then Lena replied, "Good night, Doctor."

"Good night, Lena."

The door clicked closed, and Supergirl couldn't stay away. She moved closer to the window, wanting to be inside the room, wanting to be holding Lena's hand, telling her the truth, every truth. As she watched, Lena stared at the ceiling, face still tight and mouth quivering. The woman's lips were pulled down in a deep frown.

"No!" Lena snapped, making Kara jumped. "No one has given you a moment of pity in your life, and you are not going to start now. You are not the first, and you won't be the last. Now, get over it! You are Lena Luthor damn it. Nothing has changed that. Don't you forget who you are, and don't you let them forget it." She wiped the tears from the side of her face, inhaling deeply as she nodded. "Good girl. Better. Now, stop being a silly git and get some sleep. Tomorrow is another day."

Supergirl watched while Lena closed her eyes, seemingly willing herself to sleep. Amazingly, within a few minutes, Lena was asleep. Likely it was the exhaustion the woman was still feeling. Flying home, wiping tears from her eyes the whole time, Supergirl fell into bed still in her costume. She knew sleep wouldn't come anytime soon. When it eventually came, it was filled with dreams of her friend lying in a pool of her own blood and a feeling of utter helplessness.


	10. 10-It Must Be Monday

"Morning!" Kara said, plastering a fake smile on her face as she walked into Lena's hospital room.

"Don't you have a job? It's Monday, isn't it?" Lena replied without looking at Kara.

Kara took the papers out of Lena's hand, some kind of work, and said, "Well technically you're my domestic partner—"

"Give me those back!" Lena said, trying to snag the work that Kara held out of reach.

"So I can just apply for FMLA," Kara added with a smile, grabbing Lena's water cup and holding it down to her friend, flexi-straw bent perfectly for a sip.

Lena scowled, then took several, small sips swallowing between each one. She had quickly learned it was the safest way when you were stuck flat on your back.

"Thank you, Kara," Lena said after she swallowed. "You didn't really apply for FMLA, did you?"

"No, but I grabbed the paperwork in case I need it. After the gunman tried to kill me and shot you feet from me instead, work has become incredibly understanding especially as it was all due to an article written for work. I think Snapper is terrified you'll sue them. Do you have any plans to sue?"

"CatCo? Please. I only sue publications after they defame my character…which I'm sure they'll get around to doing in time. If you're enjoying your time off though, feel free to tell them I'm considering it. May I have my contracts back please?" Lena asked, reaching for the papers Kara took again.

"Did you get the results from your MRI yet?" Kara asked, ignoring Lena's question.

"I did," Lena replied with practiced ease.

"And?" Kara asked, leaning forward. She could do this. If Lena could say it, she could hear it.

"You were right. We shouldn't have done it yet."

Heart pounding in her chest, Kara managed to ask, "What does that mean?"

"The results were inconclusive. There's too much swelling. We're going to wait another week before we try again."

"A…inconclusive? A week?" Kara shook her head.

"Yes. I don't need any more radiation in my system than necessary. The doctor said that in a week the steroids should have gotten rid of the swelling, so we'll wait a week. We'll try again then. May I have my—"

"Excuse me," Kara said, tossing the contract onto Lena's torso and nearly spilling the water cup as she put it on the table. She walked back to the door as she said, "I just remembered that I need to make an important call."

"Kara?"

Kara ignored Lena calling after her and walked quickly, one sharp click of heel falling after the other, as she made her way to the stairwell. She marched up the stairs at a normal human rate. Fuming, she was fuming. Kara had done everything, and all she'd gotten so far was rejection from Lena. Lena didn't have to want anything with her, but there was no reason for the lying.

"Hey, Kara," Alex said as she answered her phone. "What's up sweetie?"

"Lena's lying to me!"

"Uh…I need some context. What's going on, Kara?"

Kara sighed loudly. "Lena just told me that her MRI came back as inconclusive and they'd have to repeat it in a week. That's bullshit!"

"That's not true?"

"No! She's lying!"

"Kara, just calm down. How do you know she's lying?" Alex asked.

"Fine," Kara said, deflating a bit. "This time was different though. I stopped by her window last night, just to look in on her before I headed home. You know, like you do."

"Right, like you do," Alex agreed, not wanting to get into how different her sister's life was from everyone else's.

"So she wasn't asleep. She was talking with her neurosurgeon in the middle of the night. That's weird, right?"

"Actually, it is."

"Thank you. Thank you, Alex. I wasn't listening even then, but Lena looked so upset. If you'd seen her face you'd have known she wasn't okay. I was just checking up on her. It's a good thing I did too because today, she lied to me!"

Alex took a moment to collect her thoughts before she asked her sister, "So Lena did get her MRI results?"

"Yes!"

"And?" Alex asked hesitantly, assuming the news was bad. When the answer didn't come, she knew she was right. Then there were tears, the anger that had been there moments earlier gone like smoke in the wind as the true emotion underneath rose to the surface. "Oh, Kara. I'm so sorry."

"It's not fair," Kara finally managed to get out between sobs.

"Honey, Lena can afford the best physicians in the world. Maybe there is something that can be done."

"Her doctor said she'd never walk again."

"…fuck. I'm sorry," Alex repeated, instantly regretting it. That wasn't enough. Lena had stepped between her little sister and a man with a gun, and now she'd spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair. Lena, the woman whose last name was Luthor and who wore that like a scarlet letter, who everyone in National City, Alex among them, never gave the benefit of the doubt. No, not everyone, Alex remembered correcting herself. There was one person in National City who treated Lena with the respect that she apparently deserved, and she was crying on the other side of the phone right now. Saying 'I'm sorry' was a platitude not worthy of this situation. Instead, Alex asked, "What can I do?"

"I don't know," Kara admitted, still crying. "What do I do?"

"Well, don't make this about you. I know you're hurting. I can feel it from here, and I'll be here for you any way that I can be. If you want to be there for Lena, be there for Lena. Maybe she isn't telling you because she doesn't want to accept it yet."

"You think?" Kara said, sniffling.

"Yeah, I do. Sometimes we can't tell someone else what we fell not because we don't think they're ready to hear it, but because we're not ready to hear ourselves say it. Does that maybe sound familiar?"

"Yes," Kara admitted a tad dramatically. "So what now? I just sit around with Lena for the next week and hope she's ready to talk then? What if she's not, or what if she lies to me again then? How do I get her to let me in?"

"You can't force someone to let you in, Kara. All you can do is be there when they need someone and hope they choose to let you in. Does that make sense?"

"Ugh. I hate being a grown up. I'd much rather be out fighting Metallo than dealing with all of this grown-up stuff."

"And how is fighting Metallo not grown up stuff?" Alex asked.

"It's just…different. A few light gibes, a lot of punching, that's all I'm really up for right now. All of this relationship stuff is just too much. I'm not in the right headspace for it. I could really use some good meta-human bad guy action. Any of that on the horizon?"

"Uh…unfortunately not, and that feels strange to say. I'll let you know if that changes," Alex promised. "So, we still haven't had that dinner. How about tonight?"

"Why do you keep bugging me about this?" Kara asked.

"Bugging you? I'm not bugging you. I'm your sister, and I'm offering you food. In our language that's love, and you'd usually jump at that. Hey, you don't want to spend time with me and eat pot stickers, I'm sure Maggie will be happy to eat your share. Well…maybe not your share, but you know what I mean."

"No…I like pot stickers. What time?"

"How about 7:30?" Alex suggested.

"How about 8:30? Visiting hours at the hospital will be over by then. I just want to be here in case she decides to let me in."

"Okay, sounds good. I'm inviting Maggie too. She's been working a ton, so I don't know if she'll be able to join us, okay?"

"That's fine," Kara replied. "See you tonight."

When Kara hung, Alex called Maggie, and the other woman picked up immediately. "Detective Sawyer."

"Hello, Detective Sawyer. This is Agent Danvers."

"Oh, hey babe. I didn't even look to see who was calling," Maggie said with a grin. "Things are crazy around here. What do you need?"

"Dinner tonight?"

"Uh…maybe. Can you put me down for a maybe?"

"If you can be here I'd like you to be here. Kara is going to come over for dinner tonight, and I need to talk with her. I'm pretty sure she's going to come out to Lena soon."

"Come out?" Maggie moved the phone from one ear to the other as she shifted from business to personal mode and scanned the office for prying ears. "What kind of come out?"

"Come out as Supergirl,"Alex clarified.

"Oh. Well, you've got more experience with that than I do. I don't know how helpful I can be."

"You can be very supportive to me, plus you just give good advice in general. Right now Kara could use all of the friends that she can get. I don't want to talk to J'onn about this. Things with him and Kara are already strained. I don't know if Winn and James will be on board with her coming out to Lena."

"Came we come out with a different phrase for this than 'coming out'?" Maggie asked. "I just feel like this could get confusing down the road, all things considered."

"Outing herself?"

"Marginally better, but still confusing. How about we just say she's thinking about revealing her secret identity to Lena, and is she? Did Kara tell you that?"

"Not directly. Actually, we didn't talk about it, but she did admit to having a crush on Lena. If not for this Lori person, who supposedly is Lena's girlfriend, I think Kara might have admitted something to Lena by now."

"I told you I got a gay vibe from her, Lena I mean," Maggie gloated.

"Yes, yes, your gaydar is exceptionally well attuned, and mine is out for repairs. I suppose I should do something about that. Any suggestions?" Alex asked.

"When I can breathe again at work, we'll go hit a gay club and try and get you a tune-up."

"How will that help me at a gay club? They'll all be gay?"

"Nah," Maggie replied. "Lots of straight women go to gay clubs. Some of them just don't want to get hit on by men, and others just like the atmosphere. Gay clubs are crazy fun. Straight guys go there too. Like that club that Kara and Lena went to the night that Lena was shot, just because it was a gay club didn't mean Lena wasn't straight."

"Wait, Lena took Kara to a gay club?" Alex asked, suddenly much more interested in that than in her own non-existent gaydar.

"Uh, yeah. It's called 'The Out Crowd.' You didn't know that was a gay club?"

Alex thought about that for a moment. "Oh. So why would Lena take Kara there if Lena has a girlfriend? Is that relevant?"

"I don't think so. Straight men and women can go out for drinks just as friends, right?"

"Right," Alex admitted. "I guess I really just want this to work out for Kara."

"With Lena Luthor?"

"She took a bullet for Kara, two bullets. I'll be the first to admit I haven't been Lena's biggest fan, but I think Kara's been right the whole time. Lena isn't her family. There's something else Kara just told me about Lena…"

"Sawyer, no personal calls!" Maggie's lieutenant barked as she walked by.

"I'm talking to the FBI," Maggie said as she pointed at her phone.

"The FBI?" Her lieutenant asked.

"Yes, ma'am. They called me. Did you want me to just hang up on them?" She held the lower part of the phone away from her mouth slightly, finger over the symbol to disconnect the call.

"Uh, no. If it's the FBI, then do what you can to assist them. When you're done, though, come and see me. I have some more case files for you to look through."

"Yes, ma'am," Maggie replied as her lieutenant walked away. "Jeez, I gotta go babe. She is so far up my ass right now, every time I stand up, I've got her boot prints on my chair."

"Everything all right?"

"Yeah, just this organized crime task force. They have us digging through fifty years' worth of organized crime files trying to make a connection and were coming up with bupkis. I tell you, I think these guys are new."

"That doesn't sound good," Alex commented.

"New, old, none of them are good. Criminals are just like rich folks. New money or old money, they all think they're different, but they kill people just as dead. They also keep me from spending time with my amazing girlfriend."

"She is pretty amazing. Anything she can do to help you?"

"Well, since she's also an FBI agent, if I were to send you some information I have on their weapons, any chance you could check them out for me?"

"What kind of weapons?" Alex asked, intrigued.

"New tech, good tech," Maggie clarified. "It isn't the kind of thing you see on the street. It doesn't look alien, but it is incredibly high tech. They've taken the Dushku area quickly, and now they're spreading out a bit, not taking over other areas, but setting themselves up as upper-level crime lords. It's going to be a problem."

"Send it to me. I can take a look," Alex replied.

"Great then I'll…Uh, I'm getting the stink eye from my lieutenant again. I'll talk to you later."

"Dinner at 8:30," Alex reminded her. "I'll hide some food from Kara."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll try," Maggie said.

"Love you!" Alex said.

"You too," Maggie replied as she hung up.

Face dark, Alex sat back and considered both conversations she'd just had. Neither were good. Her sister was in a bad place because Lena was in a bad place. Kara's reaction to Lena's injuries had caused a chain reaction that had, if possible, made the organized crime in National City more organized and more criminal. Things in their little corner of the world were going from bad to worse. Alex drummed her fingers on her desk. Hmmm…it must be Monday.


	11. 11-Don't Talk With Your Mouthful

"Kara!" Alex smiled brightly and hugged her sister, issuing Kara into the apartment. "I'm glad you made it. Look, I bought pot stickers." On the table was an array of food. There were several boxes of Chinese food and two pizza boxes. "Also, I have two tubs of ice cream in my freezer."

Kara eyed the spread suspiciously. "Am I here for dinner or moving in?"

"Dinner and conversation," Alex replied, heading off to the kitchen and grabbing herself a beer from the fridge. "What do you want to drink?"

"Whatever," Kara replied, pulling a slice of pizza from the box and putting it on a plate. Then she began to dig into the boxes of Chinese food, her mood shifting to the positive as calories began more than a future promise to her alien metabolism. "So, no Maggie?"

"She said she'd try," Alex replied, walking in with a beer in one hand and a soda in the other.

"Thanks," Kara replied, taking the soda. "Thanks for the food too. I haven't been eating enough. I sneak out whenever I can and grab food, but I don't want Lena to see how much I eat, especially since she can't eat anything at all. Right now she's just graduated to drinking water. She takes these tiny sips, so she doesn't choke. They've still got her on an IV."

"That will change though, Kara. She'll be upright and eat and drinking normally soon enough. This changes her life, but it doesn't define her. You get that, right?"

Piling a bit more food on her plate, Kara nodded but a bit errantly. She took her plate and wandered over to the couch. Picking up one of the pot stickers, the blonde seemed to be considering it before she took a bite. Her chewing seemed purposeful, thoughtful.

"What's going on in there?" Alex asked as she sat next to her sister, a plate with two pieces of pizza in hand.

"Lena doesn't let anyone or anything define her not even her last name."

"Good attitude on both your parts," Alex replied, hiding her smile in a bite of pizza. She chewed, smiled, and then asked, "So what's your next move?"

"Next move?" Kara asked among a mouthful of food.

"Don't talk with your mouthful."

"Then I'll never talk."

"Some days that would be a blessing."

Mouth open wide, Kara stuck out a tongue covered in pot sticker guts at her sister.

"Ugh, that's disgusting Kara. You've always had the worst table manners."

The girl of steel giggled in response. She took a sip of her soda to cleanse her mouth and answered with a bright grin, "It's couch manners right now."

"True," Alex said smiling back, happy to see some good humor from her sister. "What's your next move with Lena? Are you thinking about…? You know."

"I know?"

Alex made a popping motion as she feigned pulling glasses off her own face.

"Ah." Kara nodded. "The big reveal. I want to. I do. I think she deserves the truth, but right now I feel like her plate is piled even higher than mine." By way of example, she held up her plate of food nearly overflowing with pizza and Chinese food. "I don't want to add to what she has going on. She doesn't show it, but she must be about ready to crack. She's strong, but she doesn't bend easily. That makes me think that if she takes on too much, she'll break. I just wish she'd let me help shoulder some of that burden."

"I know your shoulders are broad, but didn't we just discuss how much weight you're already carrying?"

"This is different. I feel more stressed watching her go it alone right now. It would honestly be a relief if she'd just let me help her."

"Have you told her that?"

"Not really," Kara admitted. "I figure she already has her person, and it's not me. I just wish it were. It doesn't have to be a, you know, that kind of relationship. I just don't like all these walls she throws up. A real wall I'd just bash my way through. Emotional walls are frustrating though."

"Poor Supergirl. Humans defeating you with their feelings?"

"Yes!" Kara nearly dropped her plate on the coffee table and grabbed a slice of pizza off of it, gesturing with the pizza as she spoke. "On Krypton we spoke much more plainly about our feelings. We were units and were more open to each other. Where I come from, asking for help was a sign of respect to the one you asked and giving that help was a sign of respect in return. Here you see individualism as strength and asking for help as weakness. Flying and heat vision doesn't make me feel as alien as just trying to get close to someone does."

Alex put down her plate and curled her legs up onto the couch, patting her lap. "Come here, sweetie."

Kara didn't need to be asked twice. She eagerly curled into her sister for comfort. Head in Alex's lap, Kara closed her eyes though she didn't release her slice of pizza. She had one of her favorite humans, her family, and comfort food. Today was definitely on the mend.

"So, am I here to get a warning speech about revealing myself to a Luthor?"

As she stroked her little sister's hair, Alex considered how best to answer that. She'd given this a lot of thought throughout the day. "You've revealed yourself to quite a few people since that day you first streaked across the sky of National City."

"And saved your life."

"And saved my life, thank you," Alex added. "Each time you told someone, your judgment proved to be sound. You have a huge heart, Kara, but your faith in people is usually rewarded. If we had a thousand Karas and you had an infinite amount of time, you could change everyone in the world for the better. Krypton could have sent us anyone, but they sent us you. How did we get so lucky?"

Smiling up at her sister with pizza in her mouth, Kara waggled her eyebrows and managed to swallow before she said, "You don't need a thousand me's or forever. All you need is one me. I can touch one person, and it will spread." Kara reached up, putting a fingertip to her sister's heart.

"And is that one person Lena Luthor?" Alex asked quite seriously.

"Maybe. Maybe Lena will touch me."

They stared at each other for a few moments and then Alex grinned. "Well, that got dirty fast."

"Alex!" Kara sat up quickly, but she giggled and kicked her feet happily.

"Sorry, I'm late!" Maggie said as she walked through the front doorway and then up to the couch, kissing Alex who leaned over the back for the kiss. "Am I wearing a saddle? My lieutenant was riding me like a horse. So, catch me up. What did I miss?"

"Lena touching Kara," Alex said with a wicked smile.

Kara gasped, picking up a pillow from the couch and smacking her sister. "Direct hit!"

"Oh, it's on!" Alex replied, grabbing a throw pillow and returning fire.

Halfway to the kitchen, Maggie stopped and looked at the shenanigans going on. With a head shake, she continued to the kitchen, grabbed a beer, then some food, making her way to the love seat. She was tired and didn't feel like dealing with the Danvers family battleground even if it meant a chance to snuggle up with her girlfriend. She'd find an opportunity later after the sisters had burned off some of their energy.

Eventually, Alex and Kara calmed to giggles, snuggles, and more food. The later was especially true for Kara.

With her sister curled up on her shoulder and chowing down on pot stickers again, Alex smiled over at her girlfriend, patting the couch. "Come join us?"

"Is it safe?" Maggie asked, taking another sip of beer.

"No promises," Kara mumbled around food.

"I'm good," Maggie replied, picking up a slice of pizza that sat on the plate on her lap.

"Oh, come on. It will be fine. Kara and I will be on good behavior, right Kara?"

The younger sister looked up impishly but didn't respond.

"I'm really tired, Alex. I'm doing like fourteen, fifteen hour days at work and my awesome vacation with my awesome girlfriend was cut short." Realizing what she'd said, Maggie immediately backpedaled. "Sorry, Kara. That wasn't at you. I didn't mind coming home so Alex could help you. I just mind that as soon as I was back in the city, work cut into my time off. You're family. That's different."

Kara immediately softened, reaching across her sister and patting the free couch cushion next to Alex. "Come and sit with us. I promise to keep the area mirth light."

"You promise?" Maggie asked, half rising from her seat.

Drawing a plus sign over her heart, Kara held up two fingers in the air.

"You're a boy scout?" Maggie asked as she slid into the empty spot next to Alex and relaxed.

"No. I was never a girl scout either. I wasn't allowed to do clubs, or sports or…" Kara shrugged.

"So where did Lena touch Kara?" Maggie asked, wanting to keep the good mood going even if she wasn't in the best of spirits herself. She knew Kara needed this. "Don't spare the graphic details on my account."

"Nothing happened," Kara said. "We were speaking metaphorically."

"She touched you in the metaphor? Is that an erotic zone for Kryptonians?" Maggie replied with a grin.

Kara narrowed her eyes at Maggie, then asked her sister, "Is she like this all the time?"

"Usually worse. She must be tired."

Maggie nodded while she ate her pizza.

"Does she know about Lori?" Kara asked.

Alex looked over at Maggie who said, "Yeah, Alex filled me in. Tough break, Little Danvers. I've been down the unrequited love path more than once, though the first one was a kick and a half in the gut. At least Lena is a friend. She won't hurt you. You know you don't have to hide your feelings for her from her if you don't want to. Even if you don't expect her to reciprocate, it's okay just to tell someone you have feelings for them."

"But…won't that change things?" Kara asked.

"So?" Maggie looked up at Alex. "What if Alex had never said something to me because she thought it wouldn't work out? Where would we be now?"

Alex grinned over at Maggie. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'd be spending half my paycheck on batteries and…" Slowly turning her head to the left, she looked uncomfortably down at her little sister who was still curled into her shoulder.

Kara stared back for several seconds, then shrugged. "I'm there."

"God, I've been having a lot of uncomfortable conversations lately. Just don't ever tell Mom about this one, okay?"

"Eliza!?" Kara sat up, staring wide-eyed at stared at her sister, shaking her head. "When I turned what had been dubbed my thirteenth Earth birthday, Eliza told me she wanted to have the 'birds and the bees' conversation with me. She began talking to me about it with birds and bees when perhaps two minutes into the conversation I reminded her we had neither birds nor bees on Krypton. She looked very serious and asked me how we pollinated our flowers. Before I could answer, she asked me to wait then left and came back with a notebook. I spoke, and she took notes about my world, the animals, what I knew about pollination and reproduction there. She was quite detailed in her questioning."

"I remember that. She was asking you about your enzyme secretion, hormone production, and if she could take a fluid sample when I came into the room. I chased her out, comforted you, and then we went to the kitchen and made you two huge stacks of pancakes with candles on them."

"One candle was a one, and the other was a three. I remember that," Kara replied, beaming happily as she leaned on her sister again. "I blew out the candles, and you poured real maple syrup on my pancakes. That was much better than talking about my enzymes. You get me, Alex."

"Of course I do. We're sisters," Alex replied happily, giving her sister a one armed hug. "So Maggie, why is your lieutenant playing jockey with you at work?"

"Did you get the information that I sent you?" Maggie asked in return.

"Oh, hold on." Alex patted Kara's shoulder until the younger sister sat up. Rising, Alex ran off to her bedroom, coming back with a file folder and handing it off to Maggie. "I didn't want an electronic trail of this."

"Sounds juicy," Maggie replied, flipping through the folder and beginning to read the contents even as Alex filled back into her seat.

"What's going on?" Kara asked, grabbing her plate of food again.

"That new organized crime family that's moved in. They've got some really good tech, so I put your sister on the trail. It looks like she's found something."

"It's concerning. I think we've seen bits and pieces of this tech from a number of places before. My findings are preliminary since I'm just working with images. I can say for certain if I can get in to look at the actual weapons that you've found. Care to invite the FBI in on this?" Alex asked.

"It's not my call, and so far they haven't crossed state lines. They're not in your jurisdiction Miss FBI Agent." Maggie's brow furrowed while she read. "What's this about Max Lord tech? You think he's behind this?"

"Keep reading," Alex replied.

As she read, Maggie's face continued to cloud over, her brows practically touching as the crease between them deepened. "Okay, so there is some serious army tech mixed in here? Something leading back to some tornado project thingy? You've also ID'ed some Cadmus stuff. We've also got…" Maggie looked up, staring right at Alex, "Alex, when you say 'military grade tech from unlisted black sites' are you not writing DEO?"

"I'm not writing DEO," Alex agreed.

"Ugh. Fuck me. Who the hell are these guys? How do they get DEO tech?"

"Well, the DEO gets a lot of their tech from missions, right Alex?" Kara asked.

"True," Alex agreed. "We're scavengers. Given what we fight, we need to be. If we don't evolve, we die."

"So whoever these guys are, they're doing the same thing," Maggie noted. "They're definitely not you guys though."

"Was that a question?" Alex asked.

"It was a statement. That sounded like a statement, right?" Maggie looked at Kara for backup.

Kara nodded quickly and pointed at her ear. "I have extra good hearing. That sounded like a statement. No question."

"Sorry," Alex said. "Sorry Mags."

"We're good. So uh, maybe we could do an end run on the chain of evidence and get you something. How about Supergirl shows up and gives us a hand next time we've got something going down." Maggie pulled out her cellphone, holding it up. "I can make sure she gets a head's up as to what call is related to the case. Then you can take a piece or two of tech back to your super-lab and investigate it further."

"I have a super-lab?" Kara asked.

Maggie gestured to Alex.

"That would work for me," Alex replied.

"How is the NCPD going to feel about working with me?" Kara asked. "Do I need to rescue a few more kittens before we're on speaking terms?"

"Kittens?" Maggie glanced over at her girlfriend for an explanation.

Wiping a bit of pizza sauce from Maggie's face with her thumb, Alex said, "She means doing general good deeds around town until everyone forgets she tossed that cargo ship onto land and was throwing humans around."

"Ah." Maggie nodded. "Well, those humans were hired guns with major connections. Each one of them has a rap sheet longer than my arm. The NCPD was actually okay with that."

"Really?" Kara asked perking up.

"Well not officially," Maggie clarified. "Officially, we were concerned with Supergirl's use of extreme force upon humans within National City. Unofficially, we have dozens of more addresses if you ever want to get your super rage out again."

"So we're good?" Kara asked.

"You put the ship back?"

Kara nodded at Maggie. "It's floating…tad crooked."

"They've always been a tad crooked. You got them off the docks. That's what matters. I'll call you next time we have something going down with these new guys. You grab a handful of guns and take them back to the DEO to be analyzed. Sound like a plan?" Maggie asked.

Both Alex and Kara nodded.

"Great, I'm going to go get some of those pot stickers before—" In a gust of wind, Maggie found her hair covering her face. She pulled her hair back, seeing Kara gone, and turned to see the younger Danvers' sister putting more food on her plate. "Yeah, before that happens."

With a smile, Alex leaned in and moved Maggie's hair away from her girlfriend's ear. She kissed the other woman's lobe gently, then whispered, "I hid a box behind the lettuce in the vegetable crisper. She never looks there."

With a smile and a chuckle, Maggie turned and kissed Alex as she said, "Danvers, you may be the perfect woman."


	12. 12-You're Worth So Much More To Me

Kara sat staring at the chess board in Lena's room, a look of deep concentration on her face. She'd lost three games of chess in a row to a woman who was lying flat on her back reading contracts. Kara would carefully study the board, finally make her move after several minutes of anguish. Using the chart she'd found online, she'd tell Lena which piece she'd moved. She knew the basic names but quickly learned the difference between the king's bishop and the queen's bishop. She also found out that every square on the board had a name and it was different depending on which side of the board you sat. Apparently, this was called descriptive notation. She'd found out what castling was and why it was a good defensive move, although the first time Lena did it Kara had looked it up because it seemed like cheating.

Kara didn't know if it was worse to lose to someone who wasn't even looking at the board, just memorizing every move that was told to her, or better because only half Lena's attention meant no criticism. Kara was certain that if Lena were this good at chess while doing contracts, she wouldn't be impressed by Kara's attempts to play if she was actually giving the game her full attention. Kara was bright. She never doubted that. She just wasn't a scientist, though it was possible she could have gone that route back on Krypton. It made her think about what Lena wanted in a partner and also how Maggie and Alex made a relationship work when one of them was a scientist, and the other's strength was…strength.

Kara sat staring at the board, realizing she wasn't even thinking about chess anymore. Sighing loudly, Kara asked, "Have you ever played Pictionary Lena?"

"No."

"Maybe you should try it," Kara chirped up brightly.

"Hmmm," Lena said into her contract as she flipped the page over and kept reading.

Hooking the top of the contract with one finger, Kara pulled it back enough that Lena made eye contact. "Lena, how many sick days have you taken since you took over L-Corp?"

"Sick days," Lena replied flatly.

"You know, days when you stay home sick instead of going into work."

"Oh, I don't schedule those," Lena replied, trying to tug back her contract that Kara held effortlessly between thumb and forefinger.

"Lena, you don't schedule sick days. When you're sick…" Kara shaped her other hand into a fist and covered her mouth with it as she feigned a cough. "…you don't go to work. That's a sick day."

"Germs aren't allowed on my schedule. Give me back my contract."

"No. We're talking. You don't miss days of work for any reason?"

"Fine." Releasing the contract to Kara's smiling face, Lena replied, "I have missed work on occasion. For instance, there's the time the police arrested me, and then I was kidnapped from jail and almost killed by my mother. I missed work that day."

"It's a shame that didn't happen on a weekend," Kara said sarcastically.

"I know," Lena replied as she nodded. "I had the same exact thought at the time. My schedule was in such upheaval. I'm glad to see someone understands priorities." Slowly, Lena's smile grew.

"You are such a brat," Kara said pulling the contract back in a mock attempt to swat Lena with it. When she hit the chess board, knocking pieces over and others to the floor, she looked back at Lena with a hand over her mouth. "Oops. That was an accident."

"I know where the pieces were if you want to put them back, but it's checkmate in three moves now."

"Really?" Kara sighed loudly. "I thought I was doing better this game. I did the castling thing with the piece that looks like a castle and everything."

"It's a rook," Lena corrected. "The rook is the second most powerful piece in the game. Only the queen is more powerful."

"I'm surprised it isn't the king."

"The king is the most vulnerable," Lena explained. "I suppose the king is the queen's Kryptonite, everyone's Kryptonite. They're all willing to lay down their lives to protect the king, but he's only able to move one space at a time."

"Except when you castle," Kara said.

Lena smiled. "You'll be doing the Evans Gambit within a week."

Kara furrowed her brow, sure it was a chess reference but not understanding, and instead asking, "What's your Kryptonite?"

"Well, right now I'm thinking it might be this mattress," Lena replied as she pushed herself up a bit with her elbows.

Sliding closer to the head of the bed, Kara began to rub Lena's shoulders. "How's that?"

"No, you don't have to…Mmmm. You have marvelously strong hands."

"Too hard?" Kara asked, not removing her hands but not rubbing.

"No, the pressure feels lovely. You…you don't have to stop."

Smiling, Kara began to rub Lena's shoulders again. She rubbed up the other woman's neck and then down again, feeling knots that must be quite uncomfortable but that began to fade away under her touch. Running her hands over Lena's shoulders and behind the woman's back, Kara worked out some knots around shoulder blades. Moving her hands around Lena's sides, she began to work on the knots along either side of Lena's spine near the ribcage. Suddenly Kara tensed, her motion stopping.

"What's wrong?" Lena asked, studying Kara's face.

"I don't want to hurt you."

"Hurt me? You're not hurting me."

"I mean…your back. I don't know where I can touch you and where I can't. I'm worried I'll hurt you, Lena," Kara clarified.

"Ah, the big, pink, elephant in the room which we're not discussing. It's all right to say it, Kara. I'm paralyzed. It's not a bad word."

"It's not a good word."

"Touché. Well, how about this. Though it might affect me in the ballroom, it won't affect me in the boardroom. Perhaps those idiots from Dancing with the Stars will stop calling now…the silver lining." Lena smiled at her own joke, but when Kara didn't smile along she said, "Oh, relax Kara. Everything will be fine. This is just a temporary setback. You can touch me, but if you go below a certain point, I won't feel it. There's no hurt, just…nothing."

"For how long?"

"In a few days, I'll be able to answer that for you. With the MRI being inconclusive—"

"Are you lying to me?" Kara was surprised how angry her voice sounded.

"Why would you ask me that?"

"Why won't you answer the question?"

Lena nodded slowly. "Always the reporter, Miss Danvers. Why don't you ask the question you really want to ask me?"

"I…I am."

"No, you're not. We all lie to each other Kara. Sometimes it's just a lie of omission. After all, everyone has their secrets. Sometimes lies are kindnesses or done for the good of others. No, none of us is entirely honest. So, now ask me what you really want to know."

Kara realized she had so many things she wanted to ask Lena. 'Who was Lori?' was top of the list. 'How did Lena feel about her, Kara?' was right up there too. Kara knew she wouldn't ask either of these. Alex had given her some advice, and it was that if she wanted to be here for Lena, she had to be here for Lena. This wasn't about Kara.

"Are you going to walk again?" Kara asked, surprised at how strong her voice sounded.

"Yes," Lena replied immediately.

"And that's the truth? Lena, don't lie to me about this. Just because this happened…You got shot so I wouldn't. Don't try to protect me again now. Step out of the way this time. Whatever is happening, don't bear it along. Let me go through this with you." Though her voice still sounded strong, the blurred droplets beginning to appear on her lenses told a different story. As she hunched over Lena, hands still underneath the woman's back, tears were falling straight down to collect on Kara's glasses.

Lena's face softened in a way Kara never saw in public but had seen on more than one occasion in private. This was the real Lena Luthor. This was that sweet young woman with fears and insecurities, who liked donuts and dreamed of a better world. This is the girl who at nineteen worked out a garage trying to cure cancer, and who might have done it if she hadn't been called back to run her family business. This was her friend.

Placing her hands on Kara's cheeks, Lena said, "Kara, I swear on my birth mother's grave, I'm going to walk again."

"You swear," Kara repeated nodding and sniffling.

"I'm walking out of this place," Lena said also nodding, her thumbs running under Kara's glasses. She frowned, moving her hands to Kara's glasses as she began to move them toward her. "Don't cry over me. I'm not worth your tears."

Kara put her forehead directly against Lena's, their noses touching. It was half to keep her glasses in place and half just to get closer. "You're right. You're worth so much more to me, Lena."

Kara couldn't see Lena clearly. Between the tears in her eyes and the ones on her lenses, everything was just one big blur. She could feel soft hands gently touching her face, one moving along the back of her neck. It was a kind, caring, perhaps even loving gesture. Kara had promised herself she wasn't going to dump too much on Lena while the woman was still mid-recovery, but maybe she could share a little something.

"Lena, I don't like there being so many…" Kara swallowed audibly. "…secrets between us. Maybe, if you can hear me out, I'd like you to know something that I'm just—" When her phone starting chiming with Maggie's ringtone, Kara cursed under her breath. Pulling away, she held up a finger to Lena. "Hold that thought." Pacing to the back of the room so she could turn her back on Lena and dry her glasses, Kara half hissed into her phone, "Now? Really?"

"Nice to hear your voice too, Little Danvers."

"Yeah, yeah. It's just that…" Glasses on her face again, Kara looked back at Lena who was watching her with curiosity. "Lena and I are talking."

"I'd love to know how that's going, but not now. I've got officers pinned down by that ultra-gang, and we could use an assist. How quickly can you get to Mercer and Fourth?"

"Um…five minutes?"

"Did I mention officers pinned down?" Maggie repeated.

Kara grumbled. "Fine three minutes. Let me just say a quick goodbye here."

"Thanks, kid. Sorry about…whatever I interrupted."

"Me too," Kara mumbled as she hung up and announced, "I've got to head into work."

"What a coincidence, me too." When Kara just stared, Lena pointed to the contract that had been swiped from her and said, "Would you return that before you go please?"

"Oh, sorry," Kara said handing back the paperwork. "I'll be back later, though."

"That's fine. I'll be here unless I go for a jog. Oh, damn it!"

"What?"

"I don't have my sneakers. Would you be a dear and grab those for me?"

Smiling, Kara leaned in and kissed Lena on the forehead. "I'm going to be here when you walk out of this place to make sure you keep your promise."

"Just go report on someone and leave me to my work," Lena replied, shooing Kara away with one hand.

"Yes, Miss Luthor. Whatever you say, Miss Luthor," Kara mocked, but her mood was feeling much better as she headed out the door. She didn't know how, but Lena was going to walk out of here one day, and Kara was going to be there to see it.

"What do we know?" Supergirl asked as she landed next to Maggie and two other NCPD officers who were crouched around the corner of a building.

"Two of our boys got called for a suspicious van parked by that warehouse. They showed up to investigate and were met with heavy fire. They said they were pinned down and had made it just inside warehouse door four," Maggie pointed to a large, open warehouse doorway with a number four painted above it. "Last transmission we got from them was about two minutes ago; then everything went dead. That includes the GPS signals from their cellphones and their police vehicle."

"Okay, that's weird," Supergirl noted.

"Very," Maggie agreed. "We showed up and have drawn heavy firepower from the occupants of that van. We've seen automatic weapons and some sort of energy pulse."

"Energy pulse?" Supergirl asked.

Maggie held up a finger and then stepped around the building into the open. Seconds later she dove for cover again as a blue burst of power shot through the area she had just been occupying. Standing up and brushing herself off, Maggie said, "Energy pulse. So, what's the plan girl of steel? I need to find my men and get them to safety."

Putting a hand on Maggie's shoulder, Kara nodded and said, "Detective Sawyer, I'm going to get the attention of the men in that van. You and your officers go to the last known location of your officers."

"By get their attention you mean…?" Maggie asked looking at her girlfriend's little sister. She might be looking at Supergirl, but when you went home to Alex Danvers, you took some extra care with Kara Danvers.

"I'll cause a distraction; you help your people. Then you can be my back-up if I need it." Supergirl made to go sky bound, but Maggie's hand stopped her.

"Be careful. These guys have some serious tech, and they know more about you than we know about them. They're probably ready for you."

Kara nodded.

"After we get our guys out, I'll swing around behind them and lend a hand. Be. Careful," Maggie added, pointing with the final two words.

"Yes, Detective," Supergirl said, heading to the air.

"Man, I'm glad she's back," one of the officers with Maggie said as he watched Supergirl fly away.

"She never left, Olson. Sometimes we all need to work out our shit," Maggie informed the officer.

"Yeah, but our shit doesn't knock out an entire crime ring or leave a cargo ship beached," the officer replied.

"Man, speak for yourself," the second officer pitched in. "I've been married for twenty-three years. When my wife gets PMS, I wish that's all she'd do."

Maggie pointed at the second cop, nodding. "I've met your wife. You're not kidding. Hey, there goes Supergirl. Get ready to move out."

As she landed on the side of the van opposite the building, about fifty feet away, Supergirl stood in her classic pose. Hands on hips and head thrown back she waited, hoping to be a good distraction and a bit of a target. If the people in the van were after her, they couldn't be after the officers. After only a few seconds of waiting, a blue energy pulse shot out and struck her in the shoulder. Supergirl staggered slightly but didn't fall. Though it smarted, she resisted rubbing at her shoulder. The last thing she wanted to do was encourage them to continue use of that weapon or turn up the dial if it had a higher setting.

"I think that thing needs new batteries, boys," Supergirl said as she grinned. "What does that thing use, maybe four AAA's?"

Suddenly a small, metal disk came flying at her, landing near her feet. Not wanting to wait and see what it would do, Supergirl raised a booted foot and stomped down. Instead of crunching underfoot, the disk clicked and a split-second later concussive force hammered through Supergirl, sending her easily fifty feet in the air to land even further away before she rolled to a stop.

"Ugh." Supergirl shook her head, taking just a moment to reorient herself. "Okay, that was the wrong thing to do. Note to self: little disks are landmines." As her vision allowed her to see motion coming from warehouse door number four, Supergirl realized Maggie and the other officers were on their way back out with two other downed officers, both of whom seemed to be unconscious. "Okay, break time's over." She flashed her way back to where she started, stopping with a slight waver several feet back from the van again. "Cute trick. What else do you got?"

The back of the van opened, and a large, armored, figure came out of the back. When he stepped down from the back, the van lurched, and the tail lifted about a foot and a half. He tapped his chest plate which began to glow blue, which was only good because it wasn't green which meant it wasn't Kryptonite…unless Blue Kryptonite was suddenly a thing. He walked stiffly toward Supergirl, obviously ready to face off with her.

"Oh, you've got that," Supergirl said with a nod. "Well, I'm sorry I asked. I've got this though!"

Running straight at the armored man, she jumped partway into the air and came down with a punch. Her right arm behind her followed through and connected with him, but the force didn't move him backward. Instead, it was absorbed into his armor and partially transferred back into Supergirl. She landed a few feet back, her whole body quivering, feeling like she was the victim of a mini-high-intensity earthquake for one.

"Whwhwhat wwwaaasss thththaaaatttt?" Supergirl asked as she vibrated in place, trying to still her body as what looked like half a dozen armored men, all images moving around and through each other, moved toward her.

"An appetizer," the armored man said as he strode slowly toward Supergirl, his armor clicking and popping with each robotic motion. He held out his right hand at her, and it changed, metal from the forearm spreading out and covering his hand. The section that covered his fist was a blue lens that began to glow brightly. "Ready for the main course?"

There was no bright light or laser beam that struck her, just a sound that seemed to be coming from inside her head and tried to rip her brain open. As Supergirl fell to her knees, hands over her ears though it did no good, she knew she was screaming even though she couldn't hear it. She couldn't hear anything. She wasn't even sure she could hear the thing that was ripping her skull apart. Even as blood trickled out of her ears and across her hands, she wasn't sure of anything but the pain and the blackness that was closing in.

One quick shot followed the other, the first hitting the armored man in the back of the left knee and the second the back of his right knee. He fell, screaming as he hit the ground, his weapon powering down as he flailed about in pain. Finally turning his head to the right and focusing on Detective Sawyer, he pointed his weapon on her, and it glowed blue again. One more shot hit its lens that covered his right hand and sparks flew, causing him to yelp out in pain.

"Oh, stop being a little bitch," Maggie said, the antipathy obvious in her voice.

When another man tried to exit the van, the pulse weapon in hand, she had her weapon to the back of his head and had him to the ground in seconds. The officer with her covered her while she cuffed him and then made a quick circuit of the van to make sure there was no one else within.

"We're clear! Cover this guy!" Maggie yelled out, running over to Supergirl's side and stopping where the girl of steel still lie on the ground. "Hey, hey, kid, you okay?"

Supergirl rolled onto her back with Maggie's assistance, well with the assistance of three Maggie's. That was a vast improvement on the half dozen armored men that had just tried to peel her head open like a grapefruit. After maybe a minute the three Maggie's coalesced into one which was even better. Maggie looked down at her, moving her lips, while a high-pitched whine was the only noise Supergirl heard.

"Maggie?"

Maggie smiled, sighing with obvious relief as she moved her lips again and no sound came out. She helped Supergirl sit up and stared at her, obviously waiting for a response.

"I'm sorry Maggie I…" Supergirl put her hands to her ears, pulling at them to try and clear them and then pulling back her hands when it didn't seem to help.

"Holy…! You're bleeding!" Maggie said, looking at Supergirl's hands.

Looking at her hands, Supergirl held them up and showed them to Maggie. "I'm bleeding!"

"Uh, yeah. I just said that. We need to get you…you know where for some medical attention," Maggie said quietly.

"I need to get to the…you know! I need a sunbath!"

"I…just said that. Why are you yelling?" When Supergirl only stared at her quizzically, Maggie muttered under her breath, "Man, your sister is going to be pissed about this. She's probably going to blame me for dragging you out here."

"Ugh! Alex is going to—!"

Maggie's hand slapped down over Supergirl's mouth. Making a zippering motion over her own lips, she shook her head. Then she put a finger to her lips, signaling Supergirl to silence until she got a nod of agreement. That was when she removed her hand from the blonde's face.

"You can't hear me at all, can you?" Maggie asked. When Supergirl just stared, Maggie asked. "Can you hear me? Nod if you can hear me at all." Still, there was just staring. "Huh. Okay, well this is…" Maggie considered, thinking about not just what this meant to the Danvers sisters, but what this meant to her. "This is an opportunity. Come with me."

Maggie pulled on Supergirl's arm, which did nothing, so instead, she walked backward ahead of Supergirl and made encouraging motions until the girl of steel followed her. Maggie opened her car door, gesturing for Supergirl to get in. When she had a passenger, Maggie closed the door. Then she came around the other side and started the car, turning the volume up about two-thirds of the way on the radio.

"Can you hear this? Nod if you can hear the radio." Still, no reaction so Maggie added, "Nod if you can hear me." When Supergirl leaned forward, eyebrows high, Maggie said, "You can talk now so…right." She made a motion like unzipping her mouth. "You can talk now."

"Can I talk now?!" Supergirl asked.

"Yes," Maggie said with a smile as she nodded.

"Maggie, I can't hear anything! I have this horrible, high-pitched buzz in my head! I need to go to the DEO! I'm not sure I should fly! My equilibrium might be off! I'll probably be fine, but I can't say the same for surrounding buildings and National City's real estate, and my reputation doesn't need that!"

"I'll take care of you kid," Maggie said, giving Supergirl a thumb's up while she typed out a quick text to Alex. "So um, question. You can't read my lips, can you?"

"I'm sorry, Maggie, I can't hear you! Will you take me to the DEO?!"

"I need to wait for back-up to show up, and the ambulance we called once the scene was secured. Give me like two minutes for back-up, then I need to grab something and we'll take-off, okay?"

"Was that a yes?!"

Maggie held up a thumb and smiled.

"Thank you, Maggie!" Supergirl said with a smile

"So…I'm going to tell you something no one else knows. It's something I've been dying to tell someone, but I'm not ready to tell anyone. The person I should tell first, I'm not ready to tell her yet. You and me being in this situation, it feels like…providence," Maggie said smiling broadly and showing off her dimples.

"Are we leaving?!" Supergirl asked.

Maggie held up her cellphone as if it were relevant and Supergirl nodded.

Launching back into her tale, Maggie said, "So bad for you, but good for me kid. I feel a bit like I'm taking advantage, but here goes. I think your sister is the one. She makes me a better person. No. I make me a better person when I'm with her. I haven't had that before. It's early though, you know? It's too early. A year from now, the way this is going, it won't be too early." Maggie paused, and Supergirl waited.

As two more police cruisers arrived, an ambulance pulling up in their wake, Supergirl saw the lights and nodded. "Were we waiting for them?!"

Maggie nodded. "What I'm saying here is you look awesome in blue, like maid-of-honor awesome in blue. I'm looking forward to having this conversation again when you can hear me…in about a year. I'll be right back. Stay. Here," Maggie said gesturing down with the palms of both of her hands as she made a gesture to leave the car.

"Do you want me to stay here?!"

Eyebrows high, Maggie said, "God, I hope that's all you got from this conversation." Then she nodded.

"Okay, I'll wait here! Please hurry! This whine noise is awful!"

Exhaling and relaxing, Maggie smiled as she got out of her car. In less than five minutes she was back, having placed a bag full of weapons in the backseat. "Okay, if anyone asks you made me take those because you're Supergirl and all. I don't know how I'm going to explain you as a hitch-hiker."

Maggie put her car into drive, turning off the radio as she pulled away. She had only left the parking lot when her phone rang for the fourth time. Instead of ignoring it yet again, she answered it.

"Hey, sweetie. We just left and—"

"Why didn't you answer my calls!?" Alex yelled from the other side of the line.

"Alex, my text said I would call you as soon as I was clear. I'm clear, so now I'm answering," Maggie calmly explained.

"Your text also said you were bringing in Supergirl, needed a pick-up for her outside of the city limits, needed something to scan tech for tracers, and needed a sunbath set up for her. What's wrong with my sister!?"

"Is that Alex?! Hi, Alex!?" Supergirl yelled.

"Is that Kara? Why is she yelling!? What's wrong with her!?"

"Why are you both yelling at me!?" Maggie yelled back, flipping on her siren and making a quick left to cut through some traffic. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. "Alex, she's okay. She got hit with some weapon, and her hearing is all messed up. She isn't sure she can fly because of her balance, but she seems fine. She asked for a sunbath. I have a bag full of those weapons from that new gang in the back, but I don't want just to drive up to the DEO's doorstep with them and hope they aren't being tracked. I saw a little bit of the fight with Supergirl, and this looked like a setup. I think she was being tested."

"Tested? Tell me about it."

Maggie honked her horn, rolling down her window and yelling, "Official police business! Move it you jack-off!" Rolling the window back up again, she replied, "When I see you, I'll fill you in. Right now I'm making my way through downtown right after lunch with someone in my passenger seat who I hope looks like they're wearing a really good Supergirl costume. I could try and get her to lie down in the backseat, but if something goes wrong with her, I want to see it."

"Thanks, sweetie. I'm going to text you some coordinates to put into your GPS. We'll have someone meet you there. I'll be in the group. I'm leaving now. Oh, and Maggie? I'm sorry I yelled at you. I was just worried about Kara. I love you."

"Yeah, love you, too baby. See you in a few." Maggie closed the phone, grinning at it and then looking at Supergirl. "Can you hear me now?"

"What Maggie?! I still can't hear you!"

"A classic black tux for me, what do you think?" Maggie asked, looking over at Supergirl who merely stared back. "Me too. The classics never go out of style."


	13. 13-I'll Show You Mine If

Alex glanced over, once again, to where her sister lay healing under the sunbath of lamps. Kara looked well, maybe a bit bored but okay in general. Even after speaking to Maggie who had assured her that her little sister was fine, Alex had been anxious until she saw Kara herself. Kara had a bad tendency to take the whole 'impervious Supergirl' thing literally which it was not. Kara was a lot tougher than a human, but the blonde could be hurt.

"What happened then?" Alex said to Maggie.

"I came around the corner, and I saw Kara just shaking there, you know, vibrating in place. I could feel the tremors, and I must have been a hundred feet away. The guy in the battle suit pulled up on her, said something, and then blasted her with some kind of sound blast. It dropped her like a sack of potatoes. It wasn't pleasant from where I was, but it must have hurt like an SOB from her perspective. I've never seen her go down like that. I wanted to rush the guy, but the back of the truck was open, and I had no idea who else was in there. I stayed close to the wall and then used the open truck door for cover so I could hit the guy in the back of the knees. He didn't have a lot of other uncovered parts as far as I could see, and I didn't know if I'd get more than one chance to take him down."

"Thank you," Alex said wrapping her arms around her girlfriend and holding Maggie close for a moment. "I really wish she wouldn't rush out into things like that. She could have gotten herself killed."

Maggie almost said she'd warned Kara, that she'd told her to be careful, but that wouldn't have helped anything. Maybe it would be a conversation she and Kara would have when Kara could have a conversation again. It definitely wouldn't be a conversation that Maggie would have with Kara's big sister while Kara was laid up. Maggie knew her flaws, but being a tattle-tale wasn't one of them.

Trying to be both supportive and honest, Maggie said, "She knew she had to create a distraction because we had cops who were missing. You know how Kara is."

"Stupid," Alex said as she pushed back from Maggie.

"Heroic," Maggie retorted as she grinned. "It doesn't have anything to do with her powers either. It has to do with opportunity. She sees a need, and she steps and helps even if it puts her in danger. I don't think it's a Supergirl thing. I think it's a Danvers thing."

"Hey!" Alex pointed over at her sister. "I do not do stuff like that."

"I've seen the bruises, stitches, and broken bones, Danvers. You have your own unique flavor of dumb crap." When Alex walked over to a stool, sitting with her arms crossed, Maggie followed and squeezed her girlfriend's cheek. "You're so cute when you pout."

"Quit it," Alex said lightly slapping Maggie's hand away. "I don't pout."

"Oh, you're no Kara, but you do pout. It's cute."

With an eye roll, Alex said, "I appreciate you bringing back my sister and the weapons. I would have loved to have gotten my hands on that suit of battle armor."

"Not as much as Winn would have," Maggie replied. "Well, you're welcome to break into our NCPD evidence room, or show up with your fake badges and documents and walk out with it. I grabbed what I could and plan to say I did it under the direction of Supergirl. I would have taken the suit if it weren't wrapped around a guy with three bullets in him, all of which were evidence."

"We should probably wait until after trial and sentencing."

"That would be a nice change," Maggie agreed.

"Hey, where are you going?" Alex said as her sister rolled off the table. "Kara? What are you doing?"

"I'm doing fine," Kara replied.

"No, not how are you doing. What are you doing? You obviously need more time under the sunbath. How is your hearing?" Alex asked.

"I'm feeling okay."

Alex sighed, controlling her throttling reflex. Not only wouldn't it affect her sister, but it would also likely push Kara to do whatever Alex didn't want Kara to do.

Nodding with more of a baring of teeth than a smile, Alex loudly said, "How is your hearing!? Can you hear me!?"

"Yes," Kara replied nodding and smiling back.

"What about now?" Alex asked quietly.

Eyes narrowed, Kara leaned closer and asked, "One more time."

"Back under the lamp!" Alex said pointing to the sunbath table.

"I've got to get back to the hospital. I hadn't meant to be gone this long, and Lena will be worried." Kara turned, and Maggie was standing right there. "Uh…excuse me?"

"Can you even fly?" Maggie asked.

"Can I try what?" Kara asked in reply.

Looking over at Alex, Maggie said, "Well, she's better, but she's not 100%. You better make sure she can actually fly before you let her out of here." Maggie spun one finger, point down, in a little loop to represent Kara flying about.

Kara looked on with confusion. The ringing in her ears had reduced to a buzz, and she was only getting about half of the words now, but that was a heck of a lot better than none. She knew she'd heal. She didn't need to lie under a sunlamp to do it. She'd heal faster under one, but she'd be happier if she were healing more slowly near Lena.

When Alex held out an open notepad, Kara read what her sister had written. _"Kara, I love you. You're an idiot. You should stay here and heal more."_

Lifting her face, Kara shook her head at her sister.

In response, Alex stabbed at the paper with her pen until Kara went back to reading.

 _"I know you won't listen to me, not that you can right now, but I'm going to tell you what you SHOULD do right now anyway. Now since you're going to ignore me and leave, we need to make sure you can fly. You need to go outside and do a few loops for us. Once you can prove you're safe you can leave, agreed?"_

Kara looked up from her sister's pen stabbing the bottom of the page and hesitantly nodded. "Fine, but I can fly. You'll see."

Crossing her arms, Alex replied, "I look forward to being impressed."

"You…you what? You're feeling depressed?" Kara turned to her sister's girlfriend. "Has she spoken to you about this?"

Grabbing Kara by both shoulders, Maggie replied, "Thank God you're here to get us talking about this." She walked over to Alex and kissed her. "Good luck with her. I'm going to get a ride back to my car. I've got tons of paperwork to do. It will be a late night."

"Want me to swing by with a pizza?" Alex asked as Maggie walked away.

Maggie glanced back at Kara and smiled. "Hey, the silver lining. We can talk about food in front of her. Sure, bring pizza and ice cream. Love you."

"Love you too sweetie."

"Bye, Maggie," Kara said.

"Later, kid," Maggie said as she kept walking.

"Uh…Alex, did she—?"

"She said goodbye, Kara!"

Kara smiled.

Outside Kara flew in circles, loops, and did long straightaways with last minute turns. Her equilibrium seemed to be fine. Her hearing was definitely off, but she could fly. Still unhappy, but willing to abide by the word that was given, Alex waved Kara off. Kara took the relatively quick flight back to the hospital and Lena. She changed on the roof, then made her way down toward Lena's room.

Kara had just about reached the nurse's station when she saw Lena's doctor and both of the private nurses Lena had hired coming together in the hallway. The doctor had a chart Kara could only assume belonged to Lena given that Dr. Queen was in from D.C. strictly to consult on Lena's case. The trio looked to be having a fairly serious conversation, and Kara wanted to know more. Her first instinct was to walk up to them and say, 'Catch me up.' However, Lena was keeping information the woman's condition from Kara. That meant that most likely, the medical staff that Lena hired would be doing the same. Pulling out her phone and thumbing at the screen as if she had a text, Kara listened in on the conversation between Lena's medical folks. The buzzing in her head made it less than clear.

"I've buzzbuzzbuzzbuzz company buzzbuzzbuzzbuzz treatments," the doctor said.

"Is that any surprise given who she is?" Replied Nurse Knight, his voice fairly clear.

Kara had to wonder if that was because he was male and had a louder voice in a lower register.

"This one buzzbuzzbuzzbuzz miss," Kalia reminded him. "Buzzbuzz success buzz, buzz?"

"Three buzz, however, buzzbuzzbuzzbuzz testing buzzbuzz identified buzzbuzzbuzzbuzz participants buzzbuzzbuzz nerves. We buzzbuzzbuzzbuzzbuzz participants buzzbuzzbuzzbuzz group buzzbuzzbuzz test, buzzbuzzbuzzbuzzbuzzbuzz group," the doctor said. There was a pause while the doctor flipped through Lena's chart.

"Don't leave us hanging here, Doc. What were the results?" Nurse Knight asked.

Kara couldn't agree more. Whatever Lena's test results were, she wanted to know.

"Buzzbuzzbuzz twenty-five buzzbuzz rate," the doctor replied.

Kalia sighed heavily. "Buzzbuzz not good."

Kara's shoulders fell at those words. Whatever was going on, it wasn't good.

"It's better though. Given the prior odds, I'd take those," Nurse Knight said directly at Kalia.

It was better? It was better odds? Kara had a hard time not turning on her heel and asking them what the hell was going on. Right now, she was cursing that bastard in the armor who had screwed up her hearing. She was certain she was missing a critical conversation.

Kalia nodded, then looked back to the doctor. "Buzzbuzzbuzz tested?"

"She has," the doctor said, nodding. "The results buzzbuzzbuzz. She was buzzbuzzbuzz match buzzbuzz board. Buzzbuzzbuzz candidate. Buzz promised buzzbuzzbuzzbuzz the testing. She buzzbuzz always bet buzzbuzz. Buzzbuzz we buzz start buzzbuzz that. Buzz woman buzzbuzzbuzz work."

"She's a stubborn bitch is what she is," Nurse Knight said.

"Buzzbuzz fond buzz you buzz, Buzz," Kalia said with a smile as she lay a hand on his forearm.

Knight lifted his head, gesturing down the hallway. "The girlfriend is waiting. I imagine she wants to talk to Miss Luthor's doctor. Anything else?"

"I'll buzzbuzz update when buzzbuzzbuzz time buzzbuzzbuzz. Buzzbuzz people buzzbuzzbuzzbuzz securing buzzbuzz. We'll buzzbuzz move buzzbuzz," Lena's doctor said.

"Buzzbuzzbuzz easy. Buzz girlfriend buzz lives buzz," Kalia noted.

"Then we buzzbuzz," the doctor said. "Buzzbuzz talk buzzbuzz girlfriend."

As the group broke up and the doctor headed her way, Kara fought the instinct to turn toward the doctor. She stayed on the screen showing a text conversation between her and her sister. She typed a few words, just a check in to let Alex know she made it safely to the hospital. She didn't need to do it, and Alex would find it strange, but the realism would help here.

"Miss Danvers?"

Kara looked up and by the look on the doctor's face, she though this wasn't the first time the woman had said her name. "I'm sorry. Were you speaking to me?"

The doctor nodded. "I didn't buzzbuzz interrupt. Buzz everything all right?"

Kara hit send on her text, then dropped her phone back into her bag. She pulled on her ear saying, "I'm a reporter, and I was doing a story down at a construction site today. There wasn't supposed to be any blasting. We weren't wearing any hearing protection. Suddenly, BOOM! We were just lucky we weren't any closer. The good news is that I can say without a doubt that this site has some serious safety concerns that are not being investigated. The bad news is my ears are still ringing, and I'm having an awful time hearing clearly still." She smiled weakly. That was the story Alex and Maggie had constructed for her, and Kara hoped it held water.

The doctor nodded. "Have you buzzbuzzbuzz a doctor? Buzz not my specialty, but buzzbuzz your partner pays me to buzzbuzz about, I'd be buzzbuzz have a look at you."

Kara blinked a few times. "You asked me if I'd seen a doctor, right?"

With an awkward smile, the doctor nodded.

"Thank you. See? Awful buzz, but it's better than before. Yes, I saw a doctor immediately. I've been told it will likely be cleared up by tomorrow, but I should see a specialist by then if it isn't. Trust me. I'm not taking any chances. My livelihood depends on my being able to interview people, and that becomes much harder with one-sided conversations. Speaking of interviewing people." Kara smiled brightly. "How's my girlfriend? Any updates? I'd prefer the technical version from you rather than the high-level overview from her. She thinks that everyone who didn't graduate from MIT at nineteen needs things in a Little Golden Book form…well, at least the Reader's Digest version. Honestly, though, I'd like it straight. What's going on?"

The doctor smiled back gently and said, "Buzzbuzz a lot of swelling. Buzz week we'll buzzbuzz new MRI buzzbuzz know more. Miss Luthor buzz tell you buzz?"

Eyes narrowed and arms crossed, Kara replied, "You just gave me that same BS story about her MRI being inconclusive and about having to redo it next week, didn't you?"

Impressively, the doctor just smile and said, "Miss Danvers, I'm buzzbuzz Miss Luthor and—"

"I don't need to hear what you're saying to know that you're lying to me."

Head jerking back, the doctor looked a bit surprised. She looked left, then right, before gently taking Kara by the arm and leading the blonde down the hall. They stopped by several rooms, the doctor checking in every one, before there was an empty one and they entered closing the door. "Can you hear me if I'm louder!?"

Kara nodded. There was still a buzzing, and it was annoying, but she could make out the words. She was really hoping this cleared up by sunrise. It should. A good dose of vitamin sun always seemed to take care of things for her.

"Good. Miss Danvers, what did Miss Luthor tell you!?"

"That her MRI tests were inconclusive, and they'd have to be redone in a week when the swelling went down, but I know she was lying."

"How do you know that!?" The doctor asked.

Kara hesitated. "Well…I know Lena. She's protecting me. I don't know if you realize it, but those bullets she took were meant for me. My back was turned, and it was a loud club. I don't know if she called out to me, but I don't think I would have heard her if she did. I heard the gunshots, and when I turned around, there was Lena falling to the ground bleeding. I thought someone went after her because she's so influential. I thought it was about her business, but it was about mine. It was about a story I wrote. She got hurt trying to protect me, and now she's trying to protect me again. That's Lena. She seems distant, but she's not. I may know her better than anyone, and she's lying to me."

The doctor listened, taking in Kara's story, watching Kara's face the whole time. Still, the other woman's expression was unreadable. After a few moments of consideration, Dr. Queen finally asked, "You really care about her, don't you!?"

"What kind of question is that? Of course, I do? She's my girlfriend." If the doctor made some kind of noise for a response, Kara couldn't hear it.

"What else buzzbuzzbuzzbuzz?"

"What?" Kara asked, leaning closer.

"What else did she tell you!?"

"Oh, uh…what do you mean? That was all she told me about her test results," Kara replied.

"But what else did she tell you!? She must have said something else! Miss Luthor is a strong woman!"

Kara thought about that. "She told me she'd walk out of this hospital. Lena promised me that."

Finally, there was the smallest smile in the corner of the doctor's mouth. "And did you believe her!?"

Without hesitation, Kara nodded. "She promised."

"Then why are you asking me!?" The doctor asked turning away.

Kara grabbed the other woman's arm, holding her fast. "What aren't you telling me?"

Dr. Queen looked down at the hand that held her in place so effortlessly, then up at Kara. "That's some grip!"

"Sorry," Kara shyly replied as she released the doctor, then ran her hand through her hair. "I'm just a nervous wreck. Even when I go home, I'm not sleeping well. I think I sleep better in the chair here next to Lena."

"I can get you a prescription!"

"No, I—"

"Miss Danvers, trust in your partner! I'm a neurologist, but even we know so little about the human brain. I've seen people who should have been fine who didn't pull through, and I've seen people who had no medical reason to survive up and walking around days later! There's an unmeasurable quantity that's the human spirit. If Miss Luthor says she's going to walk again, then the best thing you can do right now as her partner is have faith in her! That woman's a force! I wouldn't say this about everyone, but don't count her out!"

Pulling the doctor into a hug, Kara said, "Thank you."

After a few stiff seconds of being held, the doctor patted Kara on the back. When Kara finally released her, Dr. Queen said, "I'm going to give a prescription to help you sleep at night! If you don't get some rest, you won't be here for your partner!"

Wiping tears from her eyes, Kara nodded and followed the doctor from the room. The doctor went one way and Kara the other, heading toward Lena's room. Lena was on the phone when Kara got there, taking a business call Kara thought. Kara sat in a chair, going through some e-mails on her phone. She did need to catch up at work. Right now she was playing the 'someone is trying to kill me and I'm lying low' card and pairing it with 'I'm with Lena Luthor and let me see what I can do about not getting us sued and getting us an interview' card. They were two great cards, and Lena made a heck of a queen.

Kara looked to her left, seeing Lena stretching and rolling a bit as she tried to grab her water cup. "Hey! I can get that," Kara said grabbing the cup and getting it to Lena. "You could have just asked me."

"Buzz did. Buzzbuzz busy buzzbuzz on your phone."

"Uh…oh. Lena, I'm sorry. I didn't hear you," Kara admitted.

Lena drank some water then gave a small smile. "Buzz fine. Buzz hope buzz—"

"No, Lena…hold on a minute," Kara said as she got up and closed the door, giving them some privacy. "I'm having a problem hearing. I was doing a story at a construction site. They did some blasting and…I was too close. I've got this awful buzzing in my ears. I'm getting maybe half of what you say."

"Oh…buzz buzz all right?" Lena asked.

"Am I all right?"

Lena nodded, but her mouth turned down.

"I'm fine, fine," Kara assured the other woman. "I saw a doctor already, and he assured me that I'd be fine by tomorrow. I already feel so much better than I did earlier. It's getting better. I just…could you speak up?"

Lena pursed her lips, then shook her head.

"No?"

Taking her cellphone from where she'd laid it next to her on the bed, Lena typed into it for a few moments. Then she looked up at Kara. When Kara didn't react, Lena pointed at the purse hanging from Kara's side.

"Oh, did you just text me?"

With a small smile, Lena nodded.

Kara took out her phone, reading a text from Lena

Lena: "I was raised by Luthors. We don't even raise our voices when we're upset."

Looking back at Lena, Kara saw the woman sitting with one perfectly arched eyebrow raised and disappointedly asked, "Oh. So we can't talk?" When she saw Lena start to type again, she smiled.

Lena: "I didn't say that. I'm glad you're back at work. I don't want you getting into trouble with Mr. Carr over me."

"I can handle Snapper. He's all bark, no bite." Kara considered what she said for a moment, then added, "Actually, I think he bit a new reporter once. It was a pretty big issue with HR, but it was just the one time."

Lena: "Amusing, Miss Danvers. Move me, won't you?"

Brow furrowed over her phone, Kara looked up at Lena and said, "What?"

In response, Lena patted the mattress next to her.

Lena: "I want you to come here next to me. Slide me over to the side, won't you?"

"Is that safe? I mean, are we allowed to do that?"

Lena nodded.

"Uh…should I get a nurse, maybe Kalia?" Kara suggested.

Lena: "Just take the bedsheets and slide me to the side a bit. Honestly, Kara, I'm not as heavy as I look."

"No I…I mean." Closing her eyes for a moment, Kara sighed. "I don't want to hurt you."

Lena: "Kara, my back isn't broken. The x-rays showed my spine was fine. I have a stable spine, but there are concerns regarding the cord. You can slide me to the side, and it will be fine. Trust me."

Kara stared at that text for far too long. She stared at the words 'concerns regarding the cord' which were different than saying she'd never walk again if they couldn't regrow nerves. They couldn't regrow nerves on this planet. Their science was stupidly backward. As Kara stood there staring at her phone, the little bubble with three dots appeared, telling her she had another text coming.

Lena: "Are you stuck on a word?"

"You're snarky," Kara replied, looking up at Lena. "Fine, I'll move you, but very carefully, and if a nurse comes in here and bitches me out, I'm telling her that you extorted me or threatened me or something." Kara walked around to the other side of the bed and was just about to put her phone on the table there when it vibrated in her hand, telling her she had a text.

Lena: "If a nurse bitches you out, will you hear her?"

Rolling her eyes, Kara put her phone down and grumbled, "Snarky." Very carefully, Kara took hold of the bed sheet under Lena. She knew she wouldn't have a problem moving the other woman. The concern was only about damaging Lena's spine. She held Lena's gaze, and when the other woman nodded, she carefully pulled Lena toward her. Slowly, effortlessly, Lena slid toward Kara. When Kara had her on one side of the bed, Kara adjusted the pillow, so it was under Lena.

Lena: "Thank you. It feels good to be in a different spot on the bed. My legs don't care, but my shoulders appreciate it. Grab a pillow from the closet over there and come lie down with me, darling."

Kara didn't need to be asked twice. She grabbed a pillow from the closet and set it up on Lena's right side. She was thrilled when the woman pulled back the cover's making a spot for her. Kicking off her shoes, Kara slid under the blanket and smiled over at her friend, surprised when Lena handed over her phone.

"Oh, am I texting you too?" Kara asked.

Lena: "Yes. Now, tell me about your day. What unsavory things did you uncover at your construction site? How will you be making the world a better place Miss Danvers?"

Kara: "I don't want to talk about my work. What was your business call about?"

Lena: "Oh, incredibly boorish dealings in Singapore. I'd tell you, but you're lying down, and it would put you right out."

Kara's brow furrowed. Apparently, they weren't talking about work. Kara and Lena had a work relationship, or they bonded over Lena's insane family issues. She had a million things she wanted to say to Lena, and right now she was drawing a blank. Oh!

Kara: "Maggie and Alex say hi. They're both pretty busy with work, but they want to come by and see you."

Lena: "Well, I shall be here for the foreseeable future. Please give them my best regards, and thank them for thinking of me. Perhaps when I'm out of here, we could all go do something together."

Kara typed, then erased what she was typing. That wasn't like a double date. Wait, she could type then and then type joking…haha…no, she couldn't. She erased it again. What was wrong with her? She glanced at Lena to her left again. Lying flat on a hospital bed, and Lena Luthor still her breath away. Kara was in trouble.

Kara: "Sounds good."

Lame! That was lame! Sounds good? It took her like two minutes to type two words. Kara scowled deeply at her own stupidity. She could have at least managed, 'I'd love that.' That would have been much better. Oh, and here was the highpoint. Unlike most of the times when she made a bumbling idiot of herself around Lena, now Lena had a written recording of it all. Perfect.

Lena: "Are you all right Kara? I know your hearing is impaired right now, but how are you emotionally?"

Kara: "I'm just worried."

Lena: "About something new, or is this the same tired subject?"

Kara kept from turning on the woman and snapping at Lena. Your friend being paralyzed was many things, but a tired subject it was not. Lena's blasé attitude about the subject was, however, getting exhausting.

Lena: "What can I do? I can see the tension in your jaw. I feel like we're fighting. I don't want to fight with you. What can I do?"

Kara: "I don't want to fight with you either. I care about you. Can we just be honest with each other?"

Lena: "Honest. Well, that's an intriguing concept. Will you please use the word in a sentence? I'm a Luthor, after all."

Kara: "You know what honest means. You're a Lena, after all."

Lena: "Touché. So what do you want to ask me that you're worried I won't answer honestly?"

Kara: "Anything? Can I ask you anything?"

Lena: "Can I ask you anything?"

Oof! Kara considered that. She had a lot of secrets and…were they secrets she wanted to keep from Lena? Okay, maybe this would be a double opportunity. She could get an honest answer from Lena and have an excuse to reveal something she wanted to tell Lena. She wasn't sure what Lena would ask her, but the two biggest things she was keeping from the woman were her secret identity and the growing feelings Kara had for L-Corp's CEO who was lying next to her in bed.

Kara: "I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

Kara grinned. Okay, that was a bit risqué, but that was how she was feeling right now. One way or another, she'd be getting closer to Lena Luthor.

Lena: "What are the terms of this little arrangement?"

Kara smirked, looking to her left to see Lena glance at her, one eyebrow raised. Oh, it was all so business-like and yet intriguing. This was Lena in the boardroom, but doing it from a hospital room. Kara bet Lena negotiated like this in every room. Hiding her growing blush, Kara looked back at her phone.

Kara: "We both get to ask the other person one question, and we have to answer it truthfully. No yes or no answers. No technical truths and lies of omissions. You need to fully answer the question. Get it?"

Lena: "Any boundaries?"

Kara considered that.

Kara: "We can't ask something that we think will be hurtful to the other person."

Lena sat staring at her phone close to a minute. It went on for long enough that Kara was getting worried. Finally, Lena began to text.

Lena: "I'm entirely grateful that you came into my life, Miss Danvers. My world is an infinitely better place with your presence than it was with your absence."

Kara: "If I hadn't come into your life, you'd be walking right now."

Lena: "We don't know that for certain. Perhaps I wouldn't even be alive. Anyway, if my only choices are you and two bullets or none of the above, then I'll take all three."

Kara wasn't sure how to respond at first. She didn't think she deserved that. She knew she didn't deserve that. She wanted to cry. When all was said and done, the answer was right before her eyes. One quick copy/past later and an edit, and Kara sent her text.

Kara: "I'm entirely grateful that you came into my life, Miss Luthor. My world is an infinitely better place with your presence than it was with your absence."

Kara watched Lena's face as the other woman read that, wondering how Lena would react. There was the slightest hitch of an eyebrow, a twitch of the lips, but that was it. What it meant Kara didn't know, and if she hadn't been looking for it Kara wouldn't have seen it.

Lena: "Would you care to go first?"

Kara: "Sure. Hmmm…"

Kara sat staring at her phone, then glanced over at Lena again. The woman looked far too confident. Okay, to be fair Lena almost always looked far too confident. When Maggie had hauled Lena off in cuffs, Lena had been a bit shaken but probably because she'd just seen a video that showed something that hadn't happened. Then, after being betrayed and left for dead by Lillian, Lena was shaken. In that moment she'd turned to Kara for support. That was a private moment though. Publically, Lena never let the mask slip. Right now, the mask was in place. Kara had one question, and she had to make it count. Lena was ready for her.

Kara: "Who's Lori?"


	14. 14-Morning Kara

Lena sat looking at the phone in her hand showing a text from Kara.

Kara: "Who's Lori?"

Her heart rate had picked up, and she was entirely grateful that she wasn't still hooked up to the monitor or she wouldn't be the only one who knew it. Given who she was, her reputation, and that she and Kara were in here with the door closed, the hospital staff would probably assume the reason for the raised pulse were something of a more intimate nature. Even though Lena was laid up and partially paralyzed, still the reputation of a Luthor proceeded all other things. Lena considered that for a moment. She knew she wasn't up for much, but a make out session would be a sight better than this conversation.

Swiping left on the message from Kara, Lena stared at the red word 'delete' that stared back at her. It would take their entire conversation history, every typed word sent by Miss Danvers, every emoticon, each and every adorable turn of phrase and remove them forever. That was a steep cost, but some prices were worth paying. For not the first time Lena regretted who she was, regretted her name, but she'd never regret this one decision she'd made. It was probably the hardest and most complicated thing she'd ever done in her life…and the most valuable. The billions of dollars that came with the Luthor name were worthless in comparison. Inhaling deeply and letting out a slow breath, Lena thrust out her chin and hit the delete button. She didn't believe in living with regrets.

Kara waited patiently, anxiously, for the text response from Lena. When instead Lena reached over and grabbed her phone, suddenly swiping left and deleting their conversation history, she snapped.

"What the hell!" Kara yelled grabbing her phone back and stared at the screen that showed a lacking of their…everything. Everything they had ever texted to each other was gone forever. "What…why…you promised me an answer and then you…!" Eyes filling with tears, she just stared.

As one tear ran along Kara's cheek, Lena reached up a hand and stopped it with the back of her finger. It pooled there, dammed up along the length of her finger, and she pushed it away, following the finger with her thumb to dry the remainder. Kara was obviously hurt, and Lena wasn't surprised. These last few days Kara had seemed so open and vulnerable. There was so much sitting unsaid between them right now, but this was neither the time nor the place to say them.

Picking up her phone again, Lena sent Kara a text.

Lena: "I'm sorry you're upset."

Kara looked at her phone then over at Lena, scowling deeply. "I'm not upset. This isn't upset. I'm incredibly hurt. You made a promise, and you're breaking it. How can I trust any of the promises you've made me?"

Ouch. Lena managed not to wince, but the girl had scored on her. Fighting with Kara Danvers wouldn't be enjoyable. Perhaps it would be a good exercise in negotiation, but not an enjoyable one. The blonde fought surprisingly dirty.

Lena: "I need you to ask me something else. Ask me anything else, and I'll answer it, just not that."

Kara shook her head. "I followed the rules. I didn't ask you something that I thought would be hurtful to you. Does talking about her hurt you?"

Lena considered that. Yes was a simple response, but entirely untruthful. The real answer was that she never talked about Lori because she had no one with whom to talk about Lori. The idea of being able to talk about Lori was… Lena took a moment allowing the idea to settle in truly and to let her heart speak to her. It wasn't her greatest skill. The idea of being able to talk about Lori was…good, great, liberating…damn.

Lena: "No, but it's dangerous."

That was a truth.

Kara's scowl returned as she started at her phone, then turned to Lena, "What does that mean, dangerous? Dangerous for who?"

Lena: "Whom."

"Not right now!" Kara shot back. "I am not in the mood to be schooled on my grammar or for you to passively aggressively dig at me or try and change the subject in some manner just because you don't like this one. Just because that was your mother's version of affection, don't think I'm about to accept it! That was Lillian, wasn't it!?"

Eyebrows slowly rising, Lena just stared. She was wrong about Kara. She only thought the previous comment had scored. This one took flesh. The problem was that it wasn't a cheap shot. It was right on target. Apparently, there was a tiger inside the kitten, and Lena found her…intriguing. As refreshing as Kara's sweetness usually was, it was nice to see she wasn't all whipped topping with a cherry on top.

Sighing heavily, Lena sent another text to Kara. It was short, simple, and to the point. At least she could answer one of the girl's questions.

Lena: "Yes."

Kara's head dropped down onto Lena's shoulder, and her voice was quieter, calmer, a gentle request. "We need to treat each other better than that. I know we've both been hurt by people in our past, but we don't have to become them. You know that. I know you do. I know you."

Damn that Danvers girl. Lena had iron-clad defenses that could stand against armies. Still, when those blue eyes looked up at her, and that sweet voice said 'please', Lena's defenses fell apart. When the lower lip jutted out, she handed over the keys to the treasury. Lena had been taught through years of frozen barbs and icy stares how to deal with the harshest environments this world had to offer. The gentle warmth that washed over her when Kara spoke, or even when Kara said nothing at all, that left Lena unarmed.

Lena: "Apparently you do. You deserve to be treated better than that. I apologize."

Nuzzling into Lena's shoulder, Kara turned her head so her breath brushed hairs along Lena's neck as she said, "You deserve to treat people better than that too. For your own sake, you deserve to never forget who you are. It's not where you came from."

Turning her head, Lena found herself face to face with Kara. There they were, those eyes that were just a shade too blue to be real hidden behind tortoise shell glasses, that perfectly straight nose that they rested upon, those lovely curved eyebrows, and those red lips that quivered with…Lena wasn't sure what Kara was feeling, but the girl's pout was deadly as always. At least the blonde wasn't crying right now.

They lay there for a while, neither speaking, neither texting, just holding each other in their gazes. For all the time they'd known each other, for everything they'd shared, these moments of silence were a new level of intimacy. There was a space between them they didn't need to fill with words, to use sound and distraction to push each other apart. For several minutes, Kara didn't speak, and Lena didn't turn away to look at her phone. Within this nothing, they grew closer together. However, it couldn't go on forever.

Clearing her throat slightly, Kara asked, "What are you thinking about right now?"

That eyebrow lifted, just the one, and with it, a slight curve played along Lena's lips as she turned away and brought her phone to meet her gaze again.

Lena: "Is that your new question?"

As Lena turned back to her, Kara squirmed her lips back and forth and said, "I…damn you. No." Then she leaned forward, sniffing at Lena's neck before she lifted her face and said, "Confidence."

Lena: "Excuse me?"

"You, if we bottled your scent, that's what we'd call it: Confidence, by Lena Luthor."

When Lena laughed, Kara could hear it, and she smiled back. Even above the buzz in her ears, that sounded good. It was full and throaty, going on for several seconds without pause. It said simple little things could still bring joy. It was a promise for happiness in the future. It was hope.

When Lena quieted, Kara asked, "So, are you going to break your word, or are you going to answer my question?"

Lena: "No and yes."

Kara took a moment to read then, remembering her question, turned excitedly to look at Lena.

Lena: "Not via text. I'll keep my word, but this can't be in a text. Telling you is already too dangerous. Any recorded information would just be bloody stupid."

Kara stared at that, feeling like she was being put off again. She knew for a fact there were texts between Lena and Lori. Sure, they were deleted afterward, but Lori was in Lena's contacts. This felt like a stall tactic.

"Are you telling me you never text with her?" Kara demanded.

Lena stared back for a moment, then began to text, her attitude obvious in her thumbs. She finished up with a flourish and turned her head to Kara, green eyes flashing.

Lena: "Is your phone encrypted?"

"Well not but…"

Lena was already nodding.

As Kara's voice fell off, she said, "…okay. So as soon as we can have a conversation, a face to face, speaking out loud and both hearing each other conversation…?"

Lena: "Without other prying ears, yes. You should let this go though, Kara. This gains you nothing. This could put you in danger. Isn't there anything else you could possibly want to ask me? You're wasting your Golden Ticket here, darling."

Brow creased together, Kara asked, "Is…is that a Willy Wonka reference? That seems random. Now I'm going to have to totally reimagine what you watch on Netflix. I really hope it was the Gene Wilder version." She added that last part with a mumble. "Anyway, the more you put me off, the more I want to know this. You've got the reporter in my going now, Lena Luthor. You talk about me being in danger, but which one of us is in the hospital bed?"

Lena: "Technically, both of us at the moment."

Kara's eyes dashed back and forth. "Okay, that's true, but you knew what I meant." She sighed, placing her head on Lena's shoulder again. "Would it be okay if I just stayed here for a bit and we didn't talk? I haven't been sleeping well, and I'm pretty tired. Plus…I just want to stay here with you."

There was no text in response, just Lena putting her phone on her torso. Then, when Lena's head turned, soft lips touched Kara's forehead. Kara's face lifted just in time to see that mouth retreat. Having super reflexes meant being in time to do something about it also, but Kara held fast. There was so much going on right now, and by this time tomorrow Kara would have an answer to a question that could be the very thing that kept them apart. Depending on that answer, Kara might reevaluate many choices.

Kara opened her eyes, reacting to the growling in her stomach. That wasn't an uncommon event, but this was an unusually tingly feeling. She blinked the sleep from her eyes, wiping a small trail of drool from the corner of her mouth that led to…whose shoulder was that? Memory met with realization, and a smile grew as she looked up to see Lena sleeping next to her. Even though they were crammed into a little hospital bed together, even though Lena was paralyzed, even though they'd both passed out exhausted from a week plus of fear and a fight over…whatever it was, what Kara thought was, 'I could get used to this.'

Something buzzed against her abdomen, and Kara jumped slightly before she realized her phone was on vibrate and face down on her. She lifted it, seeing she'd received a text from Maggie. Okay, she'd received three texts from Maggie. Huh, she'd also missed a few from Alex.

Maggie: "Where the hell are you kid!?"

Kara: "Sorry! I feel asleep."

Maggie: "Where? Alex has been by your place."

Kara winced, then ignored the question.

Kara: "What's up?"

Maggie: "The ultra-gang hit a big tech place. Some employees had gone back after closing, saw someone in there, and called the cops. Now we got us a hostage situation. These guys suck. Could use your help ASAP."

Kara: "Address?"

Maggie: "You OK for this?"

Kara took a moment to assess herself. The ringing was almost completely gone. She smiled slightly at not just that fact, but at what it meant for future conversations.

Kara: "At 99% and rising. Where are you?"

Maggie: "Meet me at Coliseum and Oakley. I'll be wearing a red carnation."

Kara smiled, then carefully extracted herself from Lena. She smiled down at the other woman sleeping so peacefully, then planted a gentle kiss on Lena's cheek. By this time tomorrow, they'd have had a very important conversation, and they'd see what that meant for them. It was frightening, but also exhilarating, kind of like flying into battle…speaking of which.

Hurrying out the door, Kara waved at the people at the nurse's station. "I've got to head out. If she wakes up tell her I…tell her my sister called and I had to go."

"Hey, wait up!" Nurse Knight called, running after Kara and sticking a piece of paper in her hand. "Doctor's orders. Fill that and don't come back tonight."

She looked at the paper. It was a prescription for…by Rao above, doctors all had the worst penmanship. She had no idea what this said.

"What is this? Is this for Lena?" Kara asked

"No, it's for you," he replied. "It's Ramelteon. It's a sleep aid. It's not dependence forming. It will help you fall asleep, but it won't keep you asleep. The doctor said you'd been having a hard time sleeping and said to make sure you didn't leave without this.

Kara pushed it back at him. "Oh, no thanks. I don't want—"

Hands up, he stepped away. "Oh, come on, Miss Danvers. Between the doctor and Miss Luthor, it's just little old me and powerful woman shoving me around. You gotta rescue me here. Just take it, fill it, and get some sleep. If you fall over, you won't be any use to your lady."

Kara looked up at the much larger man and nodded. "Fine, but only because you're such a dainty flower. I've got to go." Turning on her heel, she made her way to the stairs then the roof. She was sky bound seconds later.

Kara made it to the streets Maggie had given her in just about two minutes. That was one of the good things about the hospital. It was fairly, centrally located. She touched down, not seeing Maggie, but the brunette got out of her car a moment later.

Looking her friend up and down, Kara asked, "Where's your carnation?"

"I got hungry."

Hand to her own stomach, Kara nodded. She'd need to do something about that soon. "So fill me in. What do we know?"

Squinting, Maggie stared up at Kara's forehead then poked her lightly in it.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Kara asked, swatting Maggie's hand away.

"You have a lipstick stain on your forehead," Maggie said with a grin. "Perps are around the block. I didn't want you landing in all your glory and…can you hear me?"

Kara nodded, crouched down in front of a car mirror, trying to use her cape to wipe lipstick off her forehead. Why did Lena even have makeup in the hospital? Who had brought it to her? Probably Jess, the same person who kept sneaking Lena in work.

"Okay, cool. Just checking. So, I wanted to make sure you didn't land in the middle of the street and escalate things. Last time I think they were looking for you. This time I think they were planning to go undetected. You think you can use those baby blues for some recon?"

"Hmmm?"

Maggie shook her head. "Why is it always the pretty ones? X-ray vision, kiddo. Give me eyes on the inside, so we know what we're dealing with."

"Ah." Kara nodded, then began looking in the direction Maggie pointed. After a few moments of searching, Kara was able to find the group. Some of them had moved to the basement and looked to be drilling their way through to an adjoining building. "They're moving into that building." Kara pointed.

"How?" Maggie asked. "Security is still active there."

"They're in the basement, drilling their way through."

"Hmmm…Where are the hostages?"

"With them spread throughout the building," Kara replied. "It looks like they have four men upstairs, two front and two back near entrances. They each have a hostage. They have three more men in the basement, and there's another hostage down there."

Maggie sighed heavily. "Well, that sucks. I have to alert my men." She grabbed her radio and began to speak: "This is Sawyer to all on scene units. Please be aware that—"

Kara grabbed Maggie's hand, covering the radio and shaking her head. Then she pointed to her own ear and to the building again.

Taking her finger off the radio, Maggie asked, "Are you saying they're listening in on us?"

"That's what it looks like," Kara replied. "As soon as you started talking, one down there with a radio signaled the others to quiet down. Now they're all waiting, just sort of looking and waiting for something to happen. I think they're waiting on you."

Maggie considered that for a moment. They were waiting on her, and she needed to act now. Given time she'd come up with a really clever plan, but she didn't have time. Clicking on her radio again she said, "This is Sawyer to all on scene units. Please be aware that we've received confirmation that Supergirl is in Metropolis. Repeat, Supergirl is in Metropolis and will not be available for backup. We're on our own boys and girls. Sawyer out." Looking up at Kara who still stared at the building, Maggie asked, "Well?"

With a little smile, Kara replied, "They're high-fiving. I'd say your message was received. So now that they're not expecting me, I can—"

Grabbing Kara's arm, Maggie shook her head. "No. We can use this trick once, and they'll tell their crooked lawyers who well tell the rest of them, or we can not let them know that we know and we've got an advantage here. If they're on our channels, we've got to figure out how. It's only an advantage if they don't know we know."

Brow furrowing, Kara said, "You're sneaky.

"I know. Your sister hates it. I fight dirty too."

"So I'm out of this one?"

"Nah, just sit tight for a bit. You're on recon and transport duty. I'm going to drive back and tell the team that we'll be using our cellphones for the rest of this little endeavor."

As Maggie left, Kara kept her eye on the building and called her sister.

"Kara, where were you? Maggie was trying to get in touch with you for like forty minutes," Alex said.

"I have a life that doesn't revolve around everyone else's needs you know."

"Oh? So you were with Lena?"

Kara sighed. "Yes. I fell asleep."

Alex bit down her automatic response, which was to make some kind of sexual joke. Maggie was getting to be a bad influence, or perhaps a good one. For both Kara's and Lena's sake, Alex looked forward to making these jokes in future.

Instead of saying what came to mind, Alex said, "You must have needed the sleep."

"I guess so. Lena's doctor gave me a prescription for some kind of sleep medication."

"Oh, well that's nice but useless for you."

"Right?" Kara agreed. "I'll get some sleep when this is all done."

"I think you've been saying that for the past two years sweetie. Maybe you need a vacation."

Ignoring that statement, Kara said, "So, the reason I'm calling is I asked Lena about Lori."

There was silence from the other side of the line.

"Alex, did you hear me?" Kara asked.

"Yes," Kara breathed into the phone. "I'm just…well, guess I'm worried about you because you don't sound happy with the response. Is it what you thought it was? I mean, are they…?"

"I don't know."

"Jesus Kara." Alex sighed heavily. "Okay, just tell me what happened."

With a deep sigh of her own, Kara said, "Short version, and I'll give you the long version later, is that my hearing was still pretty screwed up, so we were texting to each other. She said she couldn't put it in a text. She actually deleted all of our text history just because Lori's name was in there. She promised she'd answer my question as soon as I could hear her and we were alone. I could hear her now."

"So you plan to do whatever you're doing for Maggie and wake Lena up in the middle of the night?"

"Well…I could wait for morning I suppose," Kara said hesitantly.

"How are you feeling about this?"

"Scared but glad I'm going to get closure. I need to know, Alex. I want something from her, at least to know if she…" Kara toed the ground, fidgeting in place. "If Lori is her girlfriend, her partner, her whatever, I just need to hear it. The more time I spend with her, the more I don't want it to be true. We curled up on her bed together today. Okay, it wasn't exactly curled up but…She let me put my head on her shoulder, and she kissed my forehead. I think I still have some lipstick on my head. That stuff is hard to get off."

"Sweetie…" Alex thought about what she wanted to say to her sister. Kara didn't need someone to tell her to protect her heart. Kara didn't need a reminder that Lena was paralyzed and that would be a tough relationship if they did move into one. Kara definitely didn't need someone saying anything negative against the woman who had stepped between her and a loaded gun just because that woman's last name happened to be Luthor. "I'm here if you need anything, but listen to your heart. I can't promise you won't get hurt. Your heart won't heal as fast as your body. I can promise you that the amount of pain you're risking is equal to the amount of reward you're risking. This seems like a lot of pain."

"It hurts right now, Alex."

"I know, sweetie," Alex replied. "What I'm trying to say is, this feels like a lot of reward too."

Smiling, Kara replied. "Thank you. You weren't always Lena's biggest fan."

"I don't know how I feel about her personally. I don't really know her. I know what she's done again and again, and I trust my little sister. It's hard not to be a fan of anyone who takes two bullets for your family. I've seen the video, Kara. I've seen it a lot. She saw the gunman. She saw where he was pointing, and then she didn't hesitate. She'd die for you. I may not know her, but I have to love that."

As Maggie's car pulled up again, Kara said, "I have to go. Your girlfriend is about to put me to work."

"Okay, tell her I love her."

"I will. Bye Alex. I love you," Kara said.

"Love you too. Later Kara," Alex said disconnecting

"Was that my woman?" Maggie said as she walked up to Kara.

"You call her that to her face?"

Deep dimples showing, Maggie nodded.

"She said she loves you," Kara informed Maggie.

"Of course she does. I'm amazing. So, I've got someone getting us the security codes for the building they're breaking into. They doing anything exciting?"

"More of the same. This is boring, Maggie."

"This is police work. It's mostly stakeouts, negotiations, and paperwork. Then we have a few moments of adrenaline in there. If you live through those, then we get to do more paperwork."

"It sucks," Kara said, leaning back on a car.

"We also eat donuts."

"I love donuts."

"You're halfway there kid. We drink coffee too."

That received a smile.

The result of the ultra-gangs theft and kidnapping ended up being anticlimactic. Kara took a few cops to the roof and let them into what would not normally be an entrance. The officers gained access next door with their security codes. Kara and Maggie sat in a car and Maggie use her phone to give the officers orders while Kara used her x-ray vision to keep an eye on the perps. In the end, the bad guys were taken down without a shot being fired. It was a long and slow process. Before the night was over, Kara desperately wished for some of that caffeine Maggie had mentioned…and maybe a box of donuts for dunking. In the end, she wished Maggie a good night while she snuck away outside of the sight of the perps. Kara was actually looking forward to a goodnight's sleep in her own bed, but the hospital was only two minutes away so she decided she'd make a quick stop in just to peek at Lena.

Stopping outside Lena's room, Kara stared in through the window and saw nothing but an empty bed. She assumed she had the wrong room and flew up and down the row, then checked the level above and below, but still no Lena. Returning to the room she thought belonged to Lena, Kara looked inside again and stared at the wiped board seeing the name Jake written on it. That was Lena's night nurse. It was after 10:00 PM and Lena hadn't just gotten up and gone to the bathroom.

"Where is the woman who was in the room!?" Supergirl demanded of the nurse at the station, one arm pointing down to the end of the hallway and directly at Lena's room.

"I…I…" As Supergirl floated in front of her, the nurse stammered, then swallowed. "It's um…visiting hours are…"

"Lena Luthor," Supergirl said, her fingers drumming on the desktop and sounding like firecrackers bursting with each fingertip's connection. "Where is Lena Luthor?"

For several seconds, the nurse shook her head, then said, "That's PHI."

"PHI?"

"Personal Health Information."

"Explain," Supergirl said, her tone a warning.

"Due to HIPAA laws, we can't release personal information to anyone who doesn't—"

As her whole body tensed, Supergirl's eyes glowed yellow.

"I can look it up!" The nurse said, her fingers tapping on her keyboard with near superhuman speed. "She…she…she's been taken to another facility for some kind of…it doesn't say. That's weird."

"Where?" Supergirl asked, between gritted teeth.

"It…it doesn't say. Look, you can look." The nurse turned her monitor sideways so they could both see it. "It should say. She's our patient, and there's all sorts of data missing from this form. I don't know how this got approved."

"Who put in the order? Who moved her?"

"Dr. Patricia Queen. Her name is right there."

Supergirl stared at the name. Dr. Queen was Lena's neurologist. "So she hasn't been transferred? She's being brought back here?"

"I…look, this is incomplete, but this isn't a transfer from. She hasn't been checked out. This is just a request to take her somewhere for an evaluation or a procedure or something. The form is fairly general, and this one hasn't been specified."

Floating about two feet off the ground, Supergirl leaned over the desk at the woman and repeated, "She's being brought back here?"

The woman nodded quickly, head moving up and down like a bobblehead.

"Where will they bring her in?"

"Uh, the ambulance bays. She has to be moved by ambulance on a stretcher. We have an emergency entrance in the front of the hospital, but around back is where patients come in and out. If I were looking for her, I'd wait around back."

There were tense seconds of wordless staring and then a whoosh, the nurse's hair moving with the wind of Supergirl's departure. If was several more seconds before the nurse was able to let out the breath she didn't even realize she was holding. She'd dealt with a lot of demanding patients in her time, but this was her first superhero encounter. As far as she was concerned, it could be her last.

Kara sat on the roof of the hospital, legs dangling. She'd paced, flown about, even squatted in her best gargoyle imitation. Given the hours, no ambulances had come by. When one finally did after two in the morning, Kara went from dozing to instantly awake. She was a hovering a half foot off the roof without even realizing it. As soon as she saw that pale skin and dark hair on the woman being unloaded, she was on her way down with haste.

Nurse Knight felt the breeze pick up before the hairs on the back of his neck reacted to another presence. He spun, staring at boots, which was not what he'd expected. He didn't back up though. Weight on the balls of his feet, and hands in loose fists, he stood ready.

"You planning to fight me?" Supergirl asked.

"I'm really hoping that's not why you're here," Nurse Knight replied.

"You know I'll kick your ass," Supergirl informed him.

"You don't fight because you know you'll win," he said unflinchingly.

Supergirl regarded him for several seconds, then let her eyes slide over to Lena. Eyes closed, the woman breathed slowly and deeply. She'd taken no heed of their conversation.

If possible, more of Supergirl's muscles tensed. "She's drugged."

"It was necessary for the procedure," Dr. Queen said as she stepped out of the back of the ambulance.

Suddenly inches from the woman, Supergirl stared at the doctor with eyes that glared with a yellow warning. "You. You're the one that took her."

Hand on the doctor's torso, Nurse Knight tried to slide between them and push the doctor back.

"It's all right Knight," the doctor said, stepping to the side. "Supergirl isn't here to hurt anyone. She's a friend of Miss Luthor's, aren't you?"

"What did you do to her?"

"Nothing harmful, I promise you that. We needed to do an outpatient procedure, and this facility wasn't properly equipped for it. I promise you, she's fine," the doctor assured.

"You snuck her out of the hospital in the middle of the night."

"Hardly. We had a specialist that was en route to Asia and was able to stop off here on the way. Our window was narrow, so we made use of the time we had. It was either that or move Miss Luthor to Asia. This seemed in all ways preferable, don't you agree?"

Dropping to the ground, Supergirl walked around to Lena. She looked fine, asleep, but fine. Brushing dark hair from pale skin, Supergirl asked, "Why wasn't…her partner here? Why was she alone?"

"Partner went home," Nurse Knight said, breathing a bit easier now that there wasn't a superhero in his face. "Anyway, Miss Luthor is an adult. We told her what the option was, and she jumped at it. Well, not literally."

"Alone?" Supergirl asked, her lower lip jutting out.

"No. She had her medical staff," the doctor replied. "What else did she need?"

"Her family," Supergirl replied, brushing at Lena's hair again. "She should have had her family here."

"I don't believe Miss Luthor is particularly close with her family," the doctor replied. "Supergirl, I need to get my patient inside. If you intend to follow us, none of us can stop you. If you intend to keep us out here…well…" There were lots of awkward looks back and forth.

Without looking up from Lena, Supergirl nodded slowly. "Let's just get her inside. That's what matters."

As they pushed Lena away, Supergirl took just a moment to see who drove the ambulance at it rolled away. Unsurprisingly, it was Kalia, the missing member of Lena's medical staff. They made it upstairs, and Supergirl ignored the startled look on the face of the nurse who was still at the nurse's desk. They all went to Lena's room where Nurse Knight changed sheets and prepped the bed.

When it seemed ready, but they were still standing around, Supergirl asked, "What are we waiting for?"

"Kalia," Nurse Knight replied. "Miss Luthor is a two person lift."

"I'm a person," Supergirl replied.

"Well…" He hesitated. "You aren't medical staff. Only medical staff can move a patient."

"Do you think I'm going to drop her?"

Looking over at the doctor, Nurse Knight said, "It's your call."

"I expect Supergirl has lifted a thing or two heavier in her time. Anyway, she has Miss Luthor's best interest at heart. Supergirl, there are handles on the board underneath the patient. If you'd grasp them on either side of her feet, the nurse here will do the count for the lift."

Supergirl nodded, taking the handles on the wooden board that ran the length of Lena's body.

Standing by Lena's head, Nurse Knight said, "On the count of three. One. Two. Three." On three they both lifted. Though it wasn't much effort for the large man, it was literally no effort at all for Supergirl.

Arms crossed, Supergirl stood off to the side and leaned against the wall while the medical staff took vitals and such. She scowled openly at Kalia when the other nurse showed up. Not to be intimidated, Kalia scowled back. Eventually, the staff finished up.

"She'll be sleeping for several hours," the doctor said. "You can come back and check on her tomorrow, Supergirl. I'll have a nurse stay with her, and we'll make sure she knows you stopped by."

Grabbing the chair that doubled as a bed, Supergirl whipped it to stop next to Lena's bed and got comfy.

"Oh, you're staying?"

"Looks like it. Unless a hospital catches on fire, I mean a different hospital, I'll be here until she wakes up. Any problem with that?"

"And if there is?" The doctor asked.

Lying the chair back and kicking the feet up to form a makeshift bed, Supergirl replied, "I'll still be here."

The medical staff left, but not before Nurse Knight grabbed Supergirl a pillow and blanket from the closet. He wished her a good night with a wink, and she smiled up at him. As he turned down the light and closed the door, she reached out and took Lena's hand. This beat the heck out of her comfy bed at home, and holding Lena's hand was the best medicine.

Hours later, a cacophony of birds outside mixed with sunlight touched Supergirl's senses yet again. That wasn't what woke her though. The growing light and battles between some selection of fowls had been ongoing for some time, and the sound she'd been working into a dream which involved visiting Clark in Smallville. No, the sound that woke her was a small murmur while a hand pulled away from hers.

Rolling onto her side, smile growing, the blonde watched while Lena slowly woke up. There was something glorious about the novelty of this process. First earlier last night and now this morning, she'd woken up next to Lena and not a Lena who was in a coma. Given Lena's medical condition, it wasn't the true joy of the first time waking up next to a partner. However, it still caused a warmth to spread from Supergirl's heart and throughout her whole body.

Leaning onto the edge of the bed so that her chin rested on her forearm, the blonde reached across with her other hand and played with Lena's hand. The immediate smile that came in response was very welcome indeed.

"You waking up sleepy head?"

"Mmmm." The sound hummed along Lena's lips, gentle and soft like her voice.

"You don't sound awake," the blonde teased, moving her hand to Lena's cheek.

Hand coming up to press against the one on her cheek, Lena blinked lethargically as her eyes struggled for focus. Framed by blonde hair, she found bright blueness peering out at her. Memory stirred, Lena closed her eyes and smiled as she dragged the hand on her cheek over to her mouth where she lay a gentle kiss on it.

Again there was that humming along red lips before Lena said, "Morning Kara."


	15. 15-But It Hurts Less Often

Supergirl's first instinct was to disappear out of the room before Lena could even open her eyes again. Lena had blinked, looked at her through half-veiled eyes, smiled, closed those eyes again, and then called her Kara. Because Lena held her hand trapped, and moving would hurt the other woman, Kara/Supergirl couldn't flee. All she could do was lean back a bit and try to ignore the sound of blood rushing through her body, a lump in her throat so large that it must be her heart trying to escape the situation, and in her mind say the words, 'Oh, Rao. Oh, Rao. Oh, Rao.'

Finally screwing up her courage, and remembering this was an inevitable conclusion anyway, Supergirl said, "…ah…ah…Lena?"

Okay, so maybe there wasn't as much courage there as she'd hoped there would be. This last week plus had shown Kara she definitely preferred intergalactic invasions to interpersonal relationships. Perhaps it was more about experience. It was a sad commentary on her life that she'd had more intergalactic invasion experience than dating experience. She didn't think that fact would help her on a job resume or on .

"Hmmm?" Those lazy blinks came again, lashes of jet of skin like fallen snow. As the fluttering increased to be replaced by as steady blink, and then open eyes, smiling lips curled under the hand pressed above them. Perfectly arched eyebrows shifted, pressing together as a fine crease appeared between them. Green eyes moved unceasingly, scanning the face across from her, both the familiarity and the unfamiliarity melded together in this instance as Lena's waking mind struggled to make sense of the image before her. Then that gaze slid away from the face and down the body of the person she was seeing. She took in the blue sleeves and that unique…no, the symbol on this person's chest wasn't singular as there was one other who flew through the sky while emblazoned with this crest. So it was a rare motif that was embossed upon her torso. "Oh."

"Lena, you said—"

"Supergirl," Lena said, abruptly letting go of the blonde's hand as she turned her face away. "I…apologize. I fear I'm getting rather used to seeing someone else in that chair when I open my eyes. I hadn't meant to be so familiar with you."

Supergirl's smile never reached her eyes, and she was surprised that instead of feeling relief, she felt disappointment. Were Lena to come to this realization on her own, then it would be one fewer lie between them, one fewer anything between them. Kara had been using Lena's injury as an excuse not to reveal this truth, but this moment could have eliminated Kara's guilt at Lena's knowing.

Supergirl kicked the footrest down and pulled up the back of the chair, turning it so that she faced Lena. Reaching out and taking the other woman's hand in her own, Supergirl tugged it gently until Lena met her gaze again. "How are you?"

"I'm well and you?" Lena replied

The formality surprised Supergirl. It was something that hadn't been present in days, but then again, neither had she been. Perhaps nothing had changed here. Perhaps what had changed was Lena's behavior around Kara.

"You're well? Lena, you've been shot. You're…" Supergirl paused, looking for the best way to put the information she should have. "You're recovering."

"I am," Lena agreed. "I understand you were responsible for laying the smack down on those responsible for my condition."

"I'm sorry." Pulling back her hand and placing her elbows on her knees, Supergirl leaned forward. "Did you just say, 'laying the smack down?'"

"Hmmm. I've heard it in use, and I was trying it out. Perhaps never again?"

"Please no," Supergirl agreed, this time her smile real. "You frightened a lot of people, you know."

"The same can be said of you."

"I frightened people who needed frightening. Perhaps the criminal element in National City will recede into the dark underbelly for a while. Maybe this is what I should be doing, dealing with more mobsters and fewer cats up trees." Supergirl watched Lena's eyes on her, not judging but definitely taking her stock. It was entirely unsettling. "Anyway, you were still more frightening to those that mattered."

"The only one I frightened was my stockholders. Unfortunately, Kara interfered, or my near death would have made me a killing."

Head shaking the blonde said, "That makes no sense. The way I heard it, she took you to the hospital, so you didn't bleed to death. How was that an unfortunate interference?"

"Oh, not that," Lena replied dismissively. "For that, I'm quite grateful, though I don't think I've said thank you. I should address that. She just…it's a legal matter and it didn't allow the board to buy shares of L-Corp that were sold after the incident. When it looked like I might die, which I would never have allowed of course—"

"Of course."

"My stock prices plummeted as people sold stocks. Then, as the press release came out saying I'm recovering well and expected to return to full duties in the coming weeks, our prices are up even higher. Unfortunately, the board was unable to leverage my funds to purchase stocks while the prices were low."

Rather than ask what Kara had done to cause this because she knew exactly what Kara had done, Supergirl asked, "You really have a clause in place just in case you might die?"

"It activates if I'm critically injured, kidnapped, or incarcerated."

Laughing, Supergirl asked, "And how often do you expect to use that?"

"Well, since I've come to National City, I've had the opportunity to use all three. Kidnapping and incarceration were due to immediate family. Actually, Lex's attempts on my life have tanked our stock prices each time, but we battled them back up, and I personally made a handsome sum buying L-Corp stocks. It isn't insider trading when everyone is watching the same newscast of your helicopter being shot out of the sky. I expect to make a killing in the stock market from this. If my name is going to be dragged through the mud, the very least I can do is make it a profitable smearing."

With a grin, the superhero said, "You're a genius, you know that?"

"You're just figuring that out?"

"No," Supergirl replied with a laugh as she stood up, tossing the blanket onto the chair. "I need to get going. Those cats aren't going to get themselves out of trees. You really think they would already."

"If you leave them up there, they likely will."

"Not my style." After a few steps, the blonde turned back and asked, "Lena, how are you really? I don't mean emotionally. I mean medically."

"I'm as well as can be expected."

"Well, that doesn't answer my question."

"I'm recovering. In a few weeks, I'll be back to work, ruthlessly negotiating and working toward a better technological future."

Sighing, the superhero said, "Again, that doesn't answer my question."

"Well then, I'd say I'm not going to answer your question, and those cats are going to stay in those trees."

"Hmmm. Goodbye, Lena. Perhaps I can come by and visit you again. This was quite…frustrating."

"You'd be amazed how many people tell me that," Lena replied.

"No, I wouldn't."

Supergirl was halfway down the hallway when one of the nurses that had been watching her and whispering broke free of the pack and followed, calling her name. "Supergirl!"

Grimacing because all she wanted to do was get onto the roof, change, and get back to Lena's room, Supergirl turned with a smile she wasn't feeling. "Yes?"

"Um…hi," the nurse said with a timid smile. "So, rumors have spread all around the hospital that you were in Miss Luthor's room. Everyone's talking."

"Lena's my friend. People shouldn't spread rumors," Supergirl replied, stepping once, heavily, in a way that shook rooms all around her.

The nurse's head had shaken for several moments before she was able to reply. "No, no, that's not what I meant. I just mean everyone knows you're here. I mean, people are excited. We wanted to be sure, though."

"Sure about what?"

"It's the children's ward. There are a lot of kids who would like to see the hero of National City. Do you think you could…?"

Even muscle in her body relaxed, and Supergirl rubbed both of her hands over her face. Dropping her hands to her side, she nodded. "Great Rao above, I'm sorry. This past week and a half has been…I'm sorry. Which way are the children? I'd love to go visit with them."

"Third floor. I can take you."

"That would be great…I don't even know your name."

"Christine."

"Christine." Supergirl held out her hand. "I'm Supergirl. It's nice to meet you, Christine."

Shaking the superhero's hand, Christine giggled and whispered, "I already knew your name."

"Right. Like I said, a long few days. Well, lead on Christine."

Christine took Supergirl down to the children's ward where word of her presence had preceded her actual presence. As her name spread through the air on excited little voices, Supergirl smiled, waved, hugged child after child. This wasn't her first trip to a hospital. She knew she was in for a long stay and even wanting to get back to Lena, she didn't try and skimp on even a moment. Though this might have felt like a long stay for her, the blonde knew that was just a matter of perspective when you were a child in a hospital.

It was hours into her stay, and things were cycling down when Supergirl noticed a little girl who hadn't joined any of the others. She was maybe ten, and the lack of hair made the girl's condition obvious. Stepping into view, Supergirl pulled up a chair and sat down in front of the child.

"Hi there, I'm Supergirl. What's your name?"

"Aquaman," the girl replied without skipping a beat.

Eyebrows raised, the blonde replied, "I've met Aquaman. You have the bad attitude down, but he smells like fish. You…" Leaning over the girl, Supergirl sniffed her. "Nope, you've got this baby powder/disinfectant thing going on but no fish. You want to try the name thing again?"

"How about Batman?"

"Again, dark and brooding, so not bad, but the Bat always wears his mask. I'm pretty sure he showers in it. Plus he talks like this, _'I'm Batman.'_ You need to work on your rasp."

Fighting off a smile, the little girl replied, "You're better than the entertainer we had in last week. He was Spongebob."

"Ooooh, I'm an entertainer. Let's try this introduction thing one more time." Nodding, Supergirl pushed her chair out of the way, then jumped up into the air to hover sideways at eye level. "Hi there, I'm Supergirl. What's your name?"

"What!?" Sitting up in bed, the girl looked at the hovering hero. She waved a hand over Supergirl, then waved it underneath the blonde. "How are you doing that?"

"I told you. I'm Supergirl, and your name is…?"

"…Emily."

"See, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Supergirl replied, slowly gliding over the girl's bed until she was hovering next to the child on the other side. "So, what are you in for, grand larceny?"

"Uh…uh…"

"I see, inciting a riot. I could tell you were a troublemaker as soon as I saw you. Well, I've got my eye on you, Emily. No trouble on my watch, understand?"

Slowly, the girl lay back in her bed as a smile appeared on her face. "Okay, Supergirl."

It was nearly thirty minutes later, and their conversation had been joined in on many times before Supergirl said she had to go. Emily was regretful, but the superhero said she could come back later in the week. That was met with much happiness.

Supergirl was standing and giving Emily a hug when the child lit up again, waving toward the door behind Supergirl. "Mom, Dad, come here! Look who it is! Look who it is!"

Looking over her shoulder, the blonde saw two adults coming toward them.

"Look, look, it's Supergirl!"

"I see that," Emily's mother said smiling. "You look better today."

"Supergirl!" Emily repeated.

Her father laughed. "Well, Supergirl seemed to be the medicine you needed."

"Because she's awesome!"

Laughing, Supergirl replied, "Remember what we said, Emily?"

"Don't stop fighting. Don't give up. Hope."

The hero nodded.

"You'll be back to see me?" The child asked.

"I will. I have a city to watch over, but in a few days, I'll be around. You need to keep a watch on this unruly group for me," Supergirl said pointing at her own eyes, then pointing out across the children's ward with both fingers.

In response, Emily gave a little salute. "Mom, did you know when Supergirl was young she had a friend who was sick? Her father was a doctor, and they never gave up, and they cured her. Her name was…"

"Sabine," Supergirl, supplied again.

"Sabine," Emily said with a big smile. "When I get out of here, can Supergirl take me flying?"

"Flying?" Her father laughed. "I don't know if…uh…"

"It's up to you folks. I've taken plenty of people. It's safer than driving."

"Um…Supergirl? May I speak to you for a moment?" Her father asked. When Supergirl followed him to the side, he said, "I appreciate you getting her spirits up, but let's not get crazy here, okay? The stories seemed to have helped her, and your costume is just…I mean you look wow! Maybe we shouldn't promise her flying. She'll be crushed."

"It's safe. I promise."

"Uh…do you think you can fly?"

Sighing heavily, Supergirl levitated several inches off the ground.

"Oh my God! You're Supergirl!"

"Yeah, that's kind of what your daughter said. So, I really do need to get going. Lots of cats in trees and stuff. I will be back though. Let Emily know what you say about the flying. I promise it's safe, and hope is an incredible healing mechanism." Turning back to the child, Supergirl waved and said. "Bye, Emily. I'll see you in a few days."

"Bye, Supergirl," Emily replied. "Mom, she said bye to me. Did you hear that?"

"I did," her mother replied, holding her child who was smiling for the first time in recent memory.

"Supergirl?" The father had a hand on the hero's sleeve and asked, "That story you told Emily about you friend. Was it true?"

"No," Supergirl said in a quiet voice. "Her name was Sabine Fil-El. Her father was one of the greatest surgeons on all of Krypton. When Sabine ate a poisonous gronya, he wasn't able to save her. All of the lives he'd saved, and he watched his daughter fade in his arms. We were only eight when Sabine left us for the light of Rao. My mother held me while I cried. She held me on and off for days every time that I cried. Four years later, my entire planet was destroyed, and they all died. Sabine was my first loss though, and sometimes I still remember her and…" She gripped the hand that held her arm, offering comfort. "I'll be back to see Emily, and I'll be here the day she goes home. If you let me, I'll take her flying."

"She'd love that. Thank you, Supergirl."

Not numb enough, and trying not to stumble, Supergirl waved to children as she made her way out of that section with haste. Every little voice was an uninvited memory of that initial pain. In her mind, Kara heard her mother's voice. The words were meant as comfort at the time, but now they were a reminder of a harsh truth about life, death, loss, and those left behind. 'It never hurts less, but it hurts less often.'

Kara took the time to go home, shower, and change before returning to see Lena. She doubtless needed it, but more importantly, she needed the time. She also cooked and ate two huge plates full of pancakes. She was feeling entirely more Kryptonian by the time she was done. Grabbing three donuts and a coffee from her favorite place, Kara headed back to the hospital. Lena had a contract in hand when she got there.

"Morning!" Kara said with a bright smile.

"Afternoon," Lena replied without even looking.

"Sorry, I overslept. Blame your doctor."

Contract pressed to her chest, Lena asked, "How so?"

"She gave me some prescription because I've been running around so much. It was supposed to help me fall asleep but not keep me asleep. I disagree. I think it was called Rufies. I took one, and then I woke up to numbers I've never seen on my alarm clock before. I'm a morning person."

"Hmmm. Obviously."

"Well, she said they weren't habit forming, and she's right about that. The rest of them went down the toilet. So…I can hear you. Ready to talk?" Kara's smile was bright, but her heart was pounding.

"No, but I'll keep my promise." Looking over at Kalia who sat near a wall doing something with a tablet, Lena said, "Wait in the hall and close the door behind you."

Without hesitation, Kalia left, barely glancing at Kara. Kara hurriedly took the chair near Lena that Supergirl had earlier occupied.

"Hmmm."

"What?" Kara asked.

"I just…it's nothing. Look, Kara, you're making a mistake. You'd be much happier—"

"I don't want to be happy. I want this answer."

One eyebrow raised, Lena asked, "Did you hear yourself say that?"

"Yes. Please, Lena? I just…this has been driving me crazy for more than a week. Maybe it's the reporter in me. Maybe it's…something else," Kara admitted.

"Something else?"

Kara nodded.

"Well, I can't say I know what you're after, but I can say you won't get any satisfaction out of this. I expect you'll be entirely disappointed with this answer, whatever you imagine it might be."

Eyes closed, Kara thought about that. She was about to be disappointed. She could live with disappointed. She didn't want to keep wondering. These assumptions cut into her in ways that knives couldn't, self-inflicted wounds she had to stop.

Clearing her throat, Kara said, "So…Lori…"

"Hmmm… Where did you hear that name?"

Not ready to admit she'd snooped in Lena's phone, Kara replied, "When I was creating a new power of attorney, I saw she's in your will. She basically is your will. Why haven't you ever mentioned her?"

Lena inhaled deeply, letting out a slow breath. "It's just…complicated."

"I'm a good listener."

"Kara, you're the best listener. It's not about you. You believe that, don't you?"

"It's about Lori?"

"It's about my damn family," Lena said with vitriol in her voice. "When isn't it?"

Kara slid closer, putting a hand over Lena's but then withdrawing it. She was worried about what she was going to hear, and as much as she wanted the contact, this conversation frightened her. "You can tell me anything. I… I don't like that there are secrets between us."

"Everyone has secrets, even you Kara Danvers. Maybe you only floss once a day."

"I'm being serious."

"I apologize. I can tell you are, and I'm avoiding this conversation. I've been avoiding it with nearly everyone for years. I suppose I don't know how to do anything else when it comes to her."

"You love her." Kara said flatly, glad she'd finally said the words out loud no matter how much it stung to say them.

"Completely with my whole heart, my whole soul. I loved her the moment I set eyes on her. Actually, in some way, I think I loved her before then. No, I definitely loved her before then. I loved her before I met her. I even loved just the idea of her before I met her. The first time I touched her I thought, 'You are the reason I'm going to be a better person. You are the reason I'm going to make a better world.' It was almost like loved existed because Lori did. She healed so many pains in my heart. I wouldn't be the person I am today if not for her."

"…oh…"

"You know Kara, I'm glad we're talking about this. I've spent so much of my life, so many years, worried someone would find out about her and use her as a weapon against me. Hiding her away wasn't fair, but I couldn't just walk away. I couldn't do that. It wasn't fair to either of us. I…God, it feels amazing to finally have a friend I can open up to about all of this." Grabbing her phone, Lena said, "Would you like to see a picture?"

Kara thought she'd rather swallow Kryptonite. "Sure."

Unlocking her phone, Lena went into an e-mail section which she unlocked. There she pulled up some files. "I don't keep these on my phone. They're on a remote server. I probably shouldn't even have them but…I have to be able to see her. I suppose I don't love too wisely but too well. Here, here she is."

Eyes closed, Kara swallowed hard and took the phone. When she opened her eyes she was staring at a girl, a teenager maybe, no, not quite yet. She had that awkward look of someone caught between leaving childhood and moving into adulthood, but there was something else also. It wasn't just the black hair, green eyes, and beautiful smile. There was a sense of knowledge and confidence to the child that was distinctively Lena. Kara stared at the image while she wandered away, her brain still trying to catch up to what she was seeing. She'd expected to see some beautiful, elegant, maybe foreign woman staring back at her. This was a kid.

"Who is this?" Kara asked as she turned, holding the phone out and shaking it slightly.

"That's Lori," Lena replied, her brows pressed slightly together.

"That's a kid."

"That's my kid," Lena replied.

"Your…" It took a second, but realization set in. Kara looked from Lena to the image in the picture that looked not unlike Lena, then back to Lena as she said, "This is your kid."

"I know. That's my Lori."

"Lori is your daughter," Kara said slowly as if telling Lena.

"Kara, I was there. I won't say I remember it as if it were yesterday, but I remember it as if it were eleven years ago. You push something the size of a watermelon out of a hole the size of a lemon; it becomes a memorable experience."

Kara slid into the chair next to Lena, staring at the photo. The girl's cheekbones were high, eyebrows perfectly arched, green eyes amused, her nose was… Kara looked back at Lena again to make sure. Lori's nose was different. There was a little bump, and for a moment Kara wondered if she'd have it fixed but then smiled at herself realizing it wasn't a flaw, it was a distinction. Lori's chin was fine like her mother's, fine yet strong, and she had her mother's full lips but a broader mouth.

"You…have a daughter," Kara said very slowly, still looking at the photo.

When Kara looked at her, Lena met Kara's slow cadence and replied, "I know." Lena waited a few moments then added, "What's going on with you, darling? You seem…befuddled."

"Who's her father?" Kara asked, ignoring Lena's question and holding the phone out to Lena again.

Lena took the phone back, looking at her daughter again. "No."

"No? Lena, everyone has a father."

Closing down the photo and the e-mail, Kara dropped her phone on her chest and asked, "Kara, how old am I?"

"Um, twenty…something?"

"Yes. Crack reporting there. How do you not know that? You've written articles about me?"

"Well, that's a good point. I don't think I've ever included your age. Everyone's always asking a woman's age, and that's so overdone. It's all about your age and who dresses you. They don't ask men those questions. I know how old you were when you graduated from college and what year that was and…" Mouth going dry, Kara looked at the back of the phone where it lay on Lena. "Oh. So if she's eleven, then you were..."

Lena just sat there, face placid, not putting Kara out of her misery but seeming largely unaffected.

"Lena, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—"

"I'm not," Lena replied, smoothing her blankets. "Kara, I long ago realized that you can't wish away anything that's happened to you in your past without wishing away everything you have in your present. My past is tumultuous to be certain, but I have a few blessings that I cherish deeply. I wouldn't lose one of them to save myself all of the combined pains I've suffered."

"Lori is a blessing," Kara said thinking about the family she'd found here on Earth. When a hand touched hers, she looked down surprised.

"Kara, she's not the only blessing in my life."

Smile growing, Kara thought about how her definition of family was constantly growing and changing. "So, am I ever going to get to meet Lori?"

"Oh, she'd love that. She gave me quite the earful about you."

"About me? Whatever for?" Kara looked away, rubbing the back of her neck and rolling her eyes at herself. That sounded lame, even to herself.

"My daughter is a bit of a cyber-criminal. She got a copy of the durable power of attorney that you had created and has been trying to find out who this Kara Danvers person is. At this point, she's tracked you down at CatCo and knows far more about you than any one person should. You're being e-stalked Miss Danvers. Don't accept Facebook friend requests from anyone you don't actually know. She's wanted to know if I've been hiding a girlfriend from her."

Kara laughed like that was a joke. "What did you say?"

"I told her the truth of course. Lori and I don't have secrets from each other."

Hands fidgeting, Kara nodded. That wasn't an answer. All that meant was that Lori knew how Lena felt. Maybe Kara should fly down to Switzerland and… Okay, that was an awful idea. She was going crazy. Not only was Switzerland a fairly big place to look for a tween girl, but it would be hard to explain how Kara got there so quickly.

"Kara, are you still in there?"

"What? Yes. Sorry. One day maybe I'll meet her? When do you see her again?" Soon, Kara hoped.

"Kara, you knowing about Lori puts both of you at risk. There are dangerous people in my life. They'll use Lori to get to me if they know she exists. Now they can use you to get to me."

"I'm not a child," Kara said defiantly.

"Oh, I'm well aware of that," Lena replied with a small chuckle. Then she reached up, wiping her brow. "It's warm in here. Can you crack a window, darling? I swear, they turn the A/C up full blast in the middle of the night and try to bake us out all day."

Kara nodded and walked over to the window, but her head was still swimming with this new information. Lena was a mom. How did she feel about that? Kara liked kids. Kids liked Kara. Kids were good. More importantly, Lori was Lena's daughter, which meant Lori wasn't anyone else to Lena, someone more intimate, more adult-type intimate. So Lena was single? No, not necessarily. She might even be straight.

Pushing open the window, Kara turned as she bit at her lower lip. "Does that breeze feel better…Lena?"

Lying in her bed, Lena was panting, breathing from her stomach. Her skin was flushed, and she looked strained, concerned.

"Lena, what's wrong?" Kara asked, instantly by the woman's side.

"I…" Lena shook her head. "I'm sure it will pass."

All of her senses on high alert, Kara took in every aspect of Lena's condition. She put a hand to Lena's cheeks feeling warmer than normal skin where an unusual flush color rose to normally pale cheeks. Even while she panted, Lena's pulse slowed.

"Lena, what the hell is going on!? Tell me what you're feeling!" Kara demanded.

"I…something's wrong," Lena admitted, closing her eyes.

Kara grabbed the button on the side of Lena's bed, pumping it furiously, then hurdled Lena's bed and rushed out into the hallway. "We need a doctor!"

Within seconds Kalia was in front of her. "What's wrong?"

"She's panting. She's red. Her pulse is dropping. Hurry!" Kara said, grabbing Kalia and almost carrying the nurse into Lena's room by one arm

Kalia took one look at Lena lying there, eyes closed, maybe rolling back, and if anything looking worse than before, and yelled, "Fuck!" She grabbed her phone, shooting out a quick text, then grabbed Lena's wrist to take her pulse. "Just stay with me. You're going to be okay. Just stay with me.

"What's…what's going on?" Kara asked.

Kalia didn't respond, just watched her watch while she kept her fingers on Lena's wrist.

"What's going—!?" Nurse Knight arrived in the room, stopping when he saw Lena. "…oh fuck."

Placing her hand on his arm, Kara asked, "What's going on?"

He shook his head at her. "You should wait in the hallway."

"Is she dying?" Kara asked.

"Not if there's anything we can do about it," he replied plainly. "You need to wait in the hallway though. You need to let us handle this."

"Is she crashing!?" Lena's doctor asked as she strode into the room.

Kalia responded, "She's bradycardic, pulse of forty-three. Patient has flushed skin probably due to vasodilation. She's exhibiting signs of diaphragmatic breathing. I haven't gotten a B.P. yet."

"Don't bother. She's in neurogenic shock," the doctor replied, pulling open the bag she had on her side and piling things on the table next to Lena. "Two clicks on the Atropine pen, Dopamine 10 mcg/kg/minute, and Vasopressin 40 units intravenously followed by 20 mL of Saline."

"What's neurogenic shock?" Kara asked.

Without looking back at Kara, the doctor filled a syringe and said, "Get her the hell out of here."

"You need to leave," Nurse Knight said again.

"What's neurogenic shock?" Kara repeated, unaware of the tears running down her face.

"Out!" Kalia said, walking directly into Kara and physically pushing. At first, nothing happened, but after a few moments, Kara let herself be ushered outside. "Just stay out here. We'll come for you," Kalia added as she closed the door in Kara's face.

Hands on the door as she leaned against it, Kara let her head bang against the door as she stood there listening to the people inside.

"Did she complain of any symptoms before she went into shock?" The doctor asked.

"I don't know," Kalia replied.

"What do you mean you don't know?" The doctor asked. "You were on shift."

"I was. I was in the hallway."

"The hallway!" There was an emotion in the doctor's voice that hadn't come into play before. "You were supposed to stay with her. Those were your orders."

"No, my orders were to do what she told me to do," Kalia replied.

Kara could hear them moving around, the sound of liquids being moved but so small that she knew it was injections. It was the only thing that kept her from going in and screaming at them about their stupid fighting, knowing that through it all they continued to work.

After a few tense moments, the doctor replied much more calmly, "Those weren't my orders."

"I don't work for you," Kalia said dryly. "I do what she tells me to do. Those are my orders. She and the girlfriend told me they needed the room and they didn't want to be disturbed. I followed my orders. You don't like it; you take it up with **my** boss."

"I will," the doctor grumbled. "You better hope she lives."

"Do your job and she will," Kalia replied.

"Could you two just take care of the damn patient and deal with this in private later?" Nurse Knight said. "I knew it was a bad idea having you two working together after last time."

"I'm not the one letting this get personal," Kalia said.

"Enough already!" Nurse Knight barked loudly. "I'm going to get a B.P. I want you both to shut it for half a minute."

Kara wandered away until her back hit the wall across from the nurse's station. She slid down until she was sitting, her whole body shaking. She pulled out the phone, trying to text Alex, but her trembling fingers wouldn't allow for it. Finally, she called."

"Hey sweetie, what's—?"

"Alex!" Kara's voice came between sobs. "What's neurogenic shock?"

"Oh, my God. Kara, what's going on with Lena?"

Panting several times before she could reply, Kara said, "They…they…they stuck me in the hallway. I couldn't listen anymore. Alex…I'm scared."

"Okay, relax," Alex replied, wishing she hadn't said that. How could Kara relax? "She's in the hospital, and she has a great medical team. They're treating her for neurogenic shock?"

"Yes," Kara got out between sobs.

"Okay, okay, that's good sweetie. Well, it's not good, but it's good they know what's wrong. How long was she in shock before they got to her?"

"Uh…a minute maybe? We were talking, and she said it was warm in the room. I opened the window, and she started breathing funny, panting."

"From her stomach?" Alex asked.

"Yes. What is that?"

"What happened next?"

"Her heart rate was dropping, so I pushed the button and yelled for a nurse. Kalia came right in, called her neurosurgeon, and then they kicked me out. They started to give her medicine though. Will she be all right?"

Alex knew how dangerous neurogenic shock was, and didn't want to make any promises she shouldn't keep. "You getting people there as quickly as you did was the best thing anyone could have done for Lena. What you did was amazing. You may have just saved her life."

"Really?" Kara asked.

"Absolutely. Kara, I'm going to head down to the hospital. Will you be okay until I get there?"

"Please hurry. I'm so scared."

"I'll be there as quickly as I can. I love you."

"Love you too Alex." Kara clutched her phone to her chest like it was a teddy bear, but her gaze was plastered to the door of Lena's room. She knew she could hear what was going on in there if she wanted to, but her desire to eavesdrop had suddenly left her. That closed door was a dam, holding back a world where she'd never wake to see Lena sleeping beside her again, never hear that hearty laugh, never see that arched brow raised at her in amusement. As much as twenty minutes ago she'd wanted to end the unknown between them; now Kara would do anything to hold onto a world of possibilities.

Less than fifteen minutes later, a familiar voice caused Kara to jump to her feet.

"Kara!"

The blonde had turned, not even realizing it wasn't her sister but Maggie until she saw the detective coming toward her.

"Maggie I…!" She was panting and was in Maggie's arms, tears still streaming down her face.

As Kara's legs collapsed, Maggie lowered her to the floor and joined her there saying, "I got you kiddo. I got you."

Kara lay her head on Maggie and curled up against the other woman, crying openly. At some point Alex joined them, coming around Kara's other side and sandwiching her in sisterly love. The three of them stayed like that for close to a half hour, not trying to talk, not trying to calm Kara, just be present.

When the door for Lena's room opened, it was Kara whose head whipped to the side with instant awareness. When Kalia left, looking haggard and walking away and not toward the people waiting in the hallway, hearts sank. Moments later, Dr. Queen came out and released a deep breath, looking toward Kara and walking slowly in the blonde's direction. Kara stood, pulling her sister and Maggie upright with her. She shook her head as she saw the doctor coming their way. Kara was so afraid of what the truth might be that right now she preferred ignorance.

Patting her sister's shoulder, Alex strode fiercely down the hallway and intercepted the doctor. Hand stuck out, she introduced herself then crossed her arms while she awaited an explanation.

Kara looked on, refusing to listen once again. Alex would have to bear this burden for her little sister. Kara might be able to carry a spacecraft on her shoulders, but this news felt far heavier.

Finally, after several nods, shifting from left to right of her head, questions and answers, Alex turned and signaled Maggie and Kara to join her and the doctor.

Heart leaping with hope, Kara didn't let go of Maggie as she hurried forward. "She's okay? She's alive?"

"She's awake but very tired," Dr. Queen replied.

"Oh, thank you," Kara replied, grabbing the doctor and pulling the woman into a sudden and overly affectionate hug.

"I…" The doctor began patting Kara on the back.

"Kara, easy sweetie," Alex reminded her sister.

"I'm sorry." Releasing the doctor, Kara wiped tears away created this time from joy. "Can I go see her? I want to go see her."

"She's asking for you," Dr. Queen replied.

"She's asking for me," Kara said smiling over at her sister.

"Get going kiddo," Maggie said, patting Kara on the back.

Unhesitatingly, Kara rushed into the room. Nurse Knight stood on Lena's other side near the window, taping down some new tubing that was in her other arm. Lena looked pale again, which was normal, and her breathing was calm. She kept her eyes closed, though there was a sense about her that said the woman wasn't asleep, though definitely sleepy.

"Lena." Sitting on the edge of the chair by Lena's bed, Kara took the woman's hand and pulled it to her lips as she ran her mouth back and forth across fingers. Soft skin, cool now, and ridges between fingers brushed her lips, as that hand lay unresisting. "How are you?"

"Better," Lena said, her voice not much above a whisper. She still didn't open her eyes. "I'm sorry if I frightened you."

Even though Lena had yet to look at her, Kara continued to shake her head. "I'm just relieved that you're…I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Hmmm… then let's not find out, shall we?"

"Okay," Kara agreed, tears still streaming down her face.

"Kara?"

"Yes, Lena?"

"If word of this gets out…" The woman lay quietly for a moment, taking easy breaths as if asleep, but then she added, "…watch the stock prices and buy low."

Suddenly laughter burst unbidden from Kara. Placing her lips on Lena's forehead, Kara kissed the woman gently and then said, "I'll leak the news myself if I have to."

With a little smile, Lena replied, "Perhaps we'll make an honorary Luthor of you yet."

That took Kara's mind to places she wasn't ready to go, so she said, "You should rest. Try and sleep."

"Will you be here when I wake up?"

"Definitely." Placing her head and shoulder on the bed next to Lena, she added, "There's no place else I ever want to be."

Alex and Maggie stood behind Kara, Alex's arm over Maggie and Maggie's around her girlfriend's waist. When it seemed the other two women were settled in, Alex pulled Maggie by the shoulder and out of the room. She kept walking past the elevator and to the stairwell.

After making sure they were alone, Alex said, "There's a problem."

"With Lena?"

"Jeez. I have no idea at this point. There's a problem with her doctor though."

Eyebrows raised, Maggie waited.

"The doctor said it was neurogenic shock, and when Kara called, she described what was going on with Lena. It sounded like neurogenic shock, but I wasn't here. It happens in spinal trauma, especially with gunshots but…"

"But?"

"She shouldn't be awake."

"So, you're worried that Lena is too healthy? Maybe she has a good doctor," Maggie suggested.

"No, Mags. I'm no neurologist, but neurogenic shock is deadly. At best she'd be back to her earlier level of health in a few days. At worst this would have killed her. You don't go into neurogenic shock and then need a nap to shake it off. Whatever happened to her, it wasn't neurogenic shock."

"So…what happened?"

Alex shrugged. "I have no idea. We need more information on her doctor though. I'm going to call Winn and have him look into this."

"Don't tell Kara. Unless we know something for certain, don't tell your sister anything. She's under too much stress."

Ear to her phone, Alex nodded. "Hey, Winn. I need a favor."

"I'm your Huckleberry," Winn replied.

"What?" Alex asked.

"You know, like Val Kilmer in Tombstone when…" Winn sighed. "What can I do for you, Alex?"

"I need you to pull Lena's medical file. I need everything on her physician, her neurosurgeon. Can you do that?"

"Aaaah…why?" Winn asked.

"Something shady is going on and national security. Put down national security if you need to put down anything on any requests, okay?"

"National security, check," Winn said. "Is everything okay?"

"I don't know. That's what I'm trying to find out. I just...it's a health thing for Lena," Alex replied.

"Don't tell Kara."

"Was that Maggie?" Winn asked.

"Yes. She's right. Don't tell Kara about this. It might be nothing, but we want to make sure. Just get me Lena's records and everything you can on the doctor, and keep Kara in the dark. Got it?" Alex asked.

"No problem. Unlike you, Kara is trusting, and she's been entirely absent from around here of late. If you see her, tell her that I miss her, okay?"

"Will do Winn. Later," Alex said disconnecting.

"What are you hoping to find?" Maggie asked her girlfriend.

"Hoping to find? I'm hoping to find an excellent neurosurgeon who is earning their ridiculous salary. I'm expecting to find something unsavory going on. I'm always expecting to find something wrong, and people seldom let me down on that account."


	16. 16-Love Not Despite But Because

Kara's sleep was restless and dark. She dreamed of Krypton's destruction, seeing Lena's face, gasping for breath with eyes rolled back, amongst her lost family. An entire planet gone, having left Kara with an image burnt into her mind and scars in her heart, and now her world was so small. It had taken her years to begin to open her heart to this new planet, to put on the symbol of the House of El and stand between these humans and danger. Her family had been three, the House of Danvers, for most of her safe, new existence on this place called Earth. Now she added new family to her house one name at a time, and though it filled her with inexpressible joy, it was also terrifying. Kara Zor-El was well aware that if she were to lose any of these people, to see the light go out in their eyes, it would burn her like all of Krypton exploding again. What is the use of a heart if we don't open it to loss, for then we close it to love? Given the choices of the possibility, the probability, of pain or being as still inside as space that had swallowed her world, Kara loved. All she could do was love, and pray to the light of Rao above that it protect each of these fragile humans in a way that it hadn't protected her home world, and to keep her heart safe.

There had been sounds around Kara for hours, most of them encouraging. She could hear Lena breath, hear the other woman's heartbeat, and even occasional murmurings. There were other sounds too, more alien and not in her kind of way. Part of her mind knew it was because of her environment, though most of her slept. She'd spent more time asleep in the hospital than at home lately, so she knew this place well.

When she felt Lena's hand tugging out of hers, Kara's eyes opened slowly. Seeing another hand reaching over her to grab Lena by the wrist met with an immediate and violent reaction.

"Ugh! Fuck!" Nurse Knight yelled, his arm twisted painfully as he was slammed down into the bed and into his patient.

"Kara!" Lena screamed as the blonde reacted and then a man's upper body struck her upper legs. "Stop it!"

Three quick blinks later, Kara had released the man and stepped up and out of her chair, moving behind it to shield herself from accusations. "I…I saw someone…I'm sorry."

"Jake, are you all right?" Lena asked as the man righted himself.

Rubbing his wrist and flexing his shoulder, Jake nodded. "You okay Miss Luthor?"

Lena made a noncommittal gesture. "No worse for wear." She looked over at Kara again, one eyebrow rising pointedly.

"I just woke up and saw someone grabbing you Lena. It was total instinct, like self-defense class instinct," Kara added, her hands fidgeting together so quickly the friction might make them ignite. She reached out toward the nurse, but then pulled her hand back shyly. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"A little blonde girl that weighs maybe a buck-twenty soaking wet just kicked my ass while she was asleep." He grinned. "Don't tell anyone, and by that I mean don't let it get back to Kalia, and we'll call it even Miss Danvers."

Biting her lower lip, Kara held down her pinky with her thumb, letting the other three fingers extend upward as she held her hand up. "Girlscout's promise."

"You were a Girlscout?" Lena rolled her eyes. "Of course you were."

With a laugh that rumbled in his chest, Jake said, "I'm not touching that one with a ten-yard stick. I need a B.P., Miss Luthor. She has a new line in her other arm, so we need this one unless you're going to beat me up again, Miss Danvers."

Hand covering her face while her other arm wrapped around her waist, Kara shook her head.

While Nurse Knight took stats and updated Lena's chart, Kalia showed up. Surprisingly, she had a box of a dozen donuts. Kara's eyes lit up as soon as she saw them, and her stomach called out in greeting.

"Thought so," Kalia said handing over the box to Kara as she made her way to the wipe board, wiping off Jakes name and adding her own, the changing of the guard.

"Where's my donut?" Lena asked Kalia after the nurses had discussed medical updates and then the man had left.

"I'll crumble one up and shove it in your IV bag," Kalia replied, never looking up from Lena's chart.

"I'll crumble one up and shove it someplace for you too," Lena replied.

"You flirting with me, Miss Luthor?" Kalia asked, checking in on Lena's fluids and the condition of the patient's IVs.

"Oh, Kalia. You know the potential for a relationship here is the only thing that keeps me moving forward, don't you?"

"Hmmm." Glancing over at Kara like an afterthought, Kalia asked, "Kind of risqué in front of the girlfriend, don't you think?"

"Oh, Kara and I are terribly progressive. You don't mind my roaming ways, do you, darling?"

Seeing the amused look on Lena's face, and deciding to play along, Kara held up the donut box with one hand while she mumbled around glazed, sugary, goodness. "Roam all you want so long as they bring donuts."

Smile growing, Lena said, "See Kalia? That's relationship multi-tasking there. You're taking care of both our needs."

"Well, you're good for now. Is there anything you need, Miss Luthor?" Kalia asked all business now that she was no longer required to interact with her charge.

"A little privacy? Kara and I were interrupted mid-conversation yesterday during my little bout of…whatever," Lena said, rolling her hand in front of her. "I want to make sure there isn't anything unanswered between us."

"You probably don't remember it, but I got my ass chewed on like a squeaky toy yesterday for leaving you two alone in here."

"And you cared?" Lena asked.

Shrugging, Kalia replied, "Nah. Queen isn't my boss. I'll do what you tell me, but you're not allowed to die. Those are orders."

Holding up three fingers, Lena said, "Girlscout's promise."

That was met by an honest laugh from Kalia. "You were never a Girlscout. Good luck with her, Blondie. No idea what you see in her," Kalia said as she headed toward the door.

"Everything," Kara said with a smile.

Kalia shuddered. "Love. I'll be right outside that door, like directly outside. She creases those perfectly plucked brows funny, get me."

As Kalia closed the door between them, Kara looked over at Lena. "We're talking again?"

"After a fact," Lena replied. "Would you be so kind as to open that drawer and get me the earbuds that are in there?"

With creased brows, Kara put down the donuts and recovered Lena's earbuds.

"Thank you," Lena said, plugging them into her phone. "Would you slide me over again? I need you lying next to me for this."

Kara was slightly hesitant after yesterday's scare, but she wanted the contact, so she moved Lena to the side, kicked off her shoes, and slid in under the covers.

Lena took one of the earbuds and put it in her ear, then gave Kara the other one.

"What are we doing?" Kara asked, placing the earbud in her ear.

"Making a phone call," Lena said as her fingers moved nimbly over the screen on the phone. "Kara, I won't lie to you. Yesterday frightened me. It was too close. So, in for a penny, in for a pound, Miss Danvers?"

"We're going to call…?" Kara froze before saying the name.

Lena nodded, her finger hovering above the number that sat below Lori's name.

"Call her. Call her," Kara said excitedly as she clapped her hands.

"You are so easily stimulated," Lena said, entering a long code that was required after the number had been pressed.

Kara didn't think it had anything to do with the international call. She thought it likely another security feature.

Turning to phone back to herself, Lena said, "Just be quiet for a moment, darling. I want to prepare her for your presence. She's never met anyone else from my life. This will be a unique experience for her, and she's also easily stimulated. The two of you at once…Lord in Heaven on high, help me."

On the second ring, a small voice filled with anxiety said, "What's wrong? Why are you calling?"

"Oh, hello Mother," Lena replied. "What a pleasure to have you call at such an unexpected hour. This breaks up the monotony of an otherwise dreary day."

Sighing, Lori replied with mocking, Lena accuracy, "Oh, hello Mother. What a pleasure to have you call at such an unexpected hour. This breaks up the monotony of an otherwise dreary day." Then returning to a more childlike but less anxious tone than before she added, "Seriously though, what's wrong Mom? I wasn't expecting to hear from you for hours."

"Well, do you remember how you've been badgering me for information on my friend Miss Danvers?"

"I haven't been badgering you," Lori defended herself. "I'm just curious. Who is this person in your life? How is she your best friend if I've never even heard her name before? Is she just your friend? I know what you've said about her, but I also know what you haven't said about her. Sometimes it's what's written between the lines on the pages that is the most interesting."

"Subtext," Lena suggested.

"Yes, subtext, exactly," Lori agreed.

"Hmmm. Awkward now, but let's trudge forward, shan't we? Lori, I'd like to introduce you to someone, darling."

"What!? Like a person!?"

"A real one with a pulse," Lena agreed, turning her phone so that both she and Kara were in the camera's view. "Lori, this is my friend—"

"Kara Danvers," Lori blurted out as she sat bolt upright. "You're Kara Danvers."

"Hi, Lori," Kara said with a little wave. "It's nice to meet you finally. Your mom has told me almost nothing about you."

Kara smiled at the girl. She looked like she had in her picture, dark hair, bright green eyes moving hungrily to devour the information in front of her, and behind those eyes evidence of a mind as equally starved for information. The brows were perfect in a way that a girl of that age, someone sitting in a t-shirt covered in equations and looking as if their day had been casual prior to this do-drop-in call, should not have owned. It made Kara doubt the reality of Lena's brows being perfectly plucked as opposed to just perfect. The cheekbones were high, the chin fine, and that lovely mouth was active even when there was no sound. Lips moved for a moment or two, a tongue darted out, and then all went still.

Lori stared open-mouthed for several moments, then said, "You called her my mom."

"Uh…well she is, isn't she?"

"Yeah, but no one calls her that. Definitely no one that knows her calls her that."

"Lori, don't say 'yeah' dear. We don't use slang," Lena corrected with practiced ease.

Laughing, Kara added, "Well, she's definitely your mom. She kind of sounds like my mom now though. Does she get on you about table manners?"

"Always," Lori sighed out. "Use your utensils left to right. Always pass the pepper and the salt together. Your napkin gets left on your chair if you get up from the table and haven't finished eating. Prongs down and forefinger on your fork while eating. Moms, right?"

"Right," Kara said with a tight laugh. She was thinking more like elbows off the table and chew with your mouth closed. Now she was rethinking every meal she'd ever shared with Lena. "So, your mom said you were curious about me. What did you want to know?"

"Everything," Lori began. "I've done a little research on you, and I feel like I know so much about you and also so little. For instance, your spending habits are weird."

"Oh, here we go," Lena murmured.

"My…my spending habits? You know my spending habits?" Kara asked.

"Cyber-criminal," Lena whispered toward Kara.

"I was just being cautious because this is my mom, but things don't add up. Like I know your shoe and clothing size, but you seem to reorder the same clothes a few times a month. Do you have multiples? Do you lose them? What's up with that? You spend less on rent every month than my mom will spend on one dress. You spend absolutely nothing on transportation, and I don't know how that's even possible. Like seriously, don't you even have some kind of metro pass? Then most of your budget goes into food. Who are you feeding?"

"Uh…" Eyebrows high, Kara stared at the child who had ripped into her identity in less than a week. These facts went a good way into showing who she was, and wasn't if anyone was suspicious of her secret identity. "I entertain a lot. I have friend nights and lots of people over. We play games and I have to buy a lot of food and people eat food and sometimes they're still hungry so we get more food for people to eat…" Kara quieted, realizing she was rambling.

"Sheesh, no kidding. Maybe tell people to bring their own. Also, a little less takeout wouldn't kill you. I've charted your spending for the past twenty-four months. You have next to no savings, but you could put away over two-hundred dollars a month just by cutting the takeout in half and buying groceries instead. Then, if you increased your 401k contribution from the minimal company 50% match of 3% to 6%, you could—"

"Lori Erica Luthor, we've spoken about this," Lena snapped.

Lips pursed, Kara sat quietly after the middle name was invoked.

"Spoke about which thing, Mom?" Lori asked. "My helping with budgets, financial consulting on the sideline, or this great spreadsheet I did to show Kara what her retirement fund could look like if she changed her contributions and diversified? Kara, I can send that to you if you'd like. What's your e-mail address?"

While Lena glared, Kara stammered out, "Oh great…she's a clone. Lena, you made a clone, didn't you?"

"Possibly," Lena mumbled.

"I could be a clone," Lori said with glee. "SCIENCE!"

As the girl thrust her hands over her head, the phone went with them. It showed a background of Lori's room, bright and rich; bookshelves filled to overflowing with books, knick-knacks, and gadgets galore. On the wall were two posters that came into focus. One was Albert Einstein and the other Edward Snowden. In a rich handwriting, like fluff between two pieces of bread stood a quote by Margaret Atwood painted directly onto the wall that read, "Every aspect of human technology has a dark side, including the bow and arrow."

"So that e-mail address…" Lori said as the phone came back down, bringing her face into focus.

"She can't send you her e-mail address," Lena said. "She doesn't have an encrypted system."

"She doesn't have one yet…Mom," Lori said the last word, drawing it out then looking back at Kara.

"That's right; I don't have one yet…Mom," Kara said repeating Lori's tone.

Lena shook her head, nostrils flaring slightly while she started with determination at Kara. "Don't you call me that. That's not funny."

"That's not how you think of me, in a maternal way?" Kara asked, snuggling into Lena's shoulder.

"You're older than me," Lena replied.

"Barely. We're basically the same age."

"That's not how math works, Kara. By being born in a year that preceded my birth, you are older than me, darling."

Lori's eyes darted back and forth, a bright smile curling up the corners of her lips. This was her mom with a friend or a…more information needed. This was the rest of her mom's life, and Lori was deep in it. It felt right.

"So Mom," Lori said while Lena rolled her eyes at something amusing that Kara said. "You'll get Kara an encrypted system, and she and I can e-mail."

"Well…"

"Please Mom," Lori asked, her lower lip jutting out.

"Oh, that's not fair, Lori. The pouting isn't fair. Kara, tell her that—" Looking to her right, Lena saw blue eyes and a pouting lower lip. "You're ganging up on me. Oh, I knew this call was a bad idea. Now I have to deal with three-dimensional emotional blackmail. Ugh. Fine, I'll get her a system, and you two can e-mail."

"Thanks, Mom. You're the best!" Lori said, blowing her mother a kiss.

"Yes, you're the best, Lena," Kara agreed, rolling onto her side and kissing Lena on the cheek.

"Ow. Careful Kara. That's tender."

"Your cheek? Really? That hurt your cheek?" Kara asked.

"No, not my cheek, my…something. I'm not sure what it was, but it was something."

"I didn't do anything else," Kara countered. "All I did was lean over like this and—"

"Ow!" Lena snapped her head back at the blonde. "Well whatever you're not doing, stop not doing it."

"I'm not even touching you," Kara said holding her hands up.

"What's wrong?" Lori asked as her earlier concern had begun creeping back into her voice.

"Nothing, darling. Miss Danvers is just a clutz. She sleep attacked one of the nurses earlier. She's deadliest when she isn't conscious," Lena replied.

Remembering the incident, and where Nurse Knight had landed on Lena. Kara placed her hand down to where her hip had rolled against Lena's. When she rolled over, their bodies were touching quite closely there. Sliding her hand between their bodies, Kara wrapped her fingers around Lena's hip and squeezed.

"Oh, you should have seen the look on OW! Damn it, Kara! That was you. I know that was you," Lena said, staring daggers at her friend.

"Yes, it was," Kara agreed, trying to bring moisture to her mouth as her heart beat just a bit too quickly. "I pushed on your hip."

"Then stop."

"No, Lena, I pushed on your hip. You felt that in your hip, just above the top of your thigh."

Slowly, realization dawned across Lena's face, and her head flipped around as she tried to look down her own body without lifting herself. "Where! Show me where!"

"Don't move! I'm going to get your nurse," Kara said, trying to get up but coming back immediately due to the earbud in her ear. "Lori, I'll be right back."

"What's going on? Kara? What's going on?" Lori asked, eyes wide and lip quivering.

"It's good. It could be good. She can feel a spot she couldn't feel before. Don't worry sweetie. I've got this. Just…I've got to get the nurse." Earbud popped out; Kara headed to the door.

"Don't open that door," Lena ordered, staying Kara's movements. "Lori, I need to disconnect. As soon as I know more and have privacy again, I'll be in touch with an update."

"Don't hang up on me. Please, Mom. I'm scared. Please, just let me—"

"What is your name?" Lena snapped.

After several moments of quiet breathing, Lori replied more calmly, "Lori Luthor."

"What does that mean?"

"People will hate me, but they won't know me. They won't matter. We're all that matters, and we need to be strong for each other. We need to trust each other."

Lena nodded. "I need you to be strong and trust me."

"Yes, Mom. I'll wait for you to call me."

"And I'll call you," Lena replied. "Promise." Disconnecting the call, Lena gave Kara a nod.

As she yanked open the door, Kara yelled, "Kalia!"

"What!?" Kalia yelled back, turning from where she stood just to the side of the door.

"Lena felt something."

Head shaking and hands in front of her, Kalia waited for more information but then walked into the room. "She feels sick, nauseous, dizzy, cold, warm, what? What does she feel?"

"She felt something in her leg, well her hip," Kara clarified. "She felt something new. She has feeling."

"Oh," Kalia said, much more interested in this news. "Show me."

"It's…" Kara pulled back the covers, exposing Lena's leg and just pointing. "I touched her there, and it hurt."

"Here?" Kalia said as she poked.

"Ah!" Lena's nostrils flared. "You I will hit. She's far too adorable, but you are a… Frumious Bandersnatch. Don't test me."

"A Frumious Bandersnatch?" Kara furrowed her brow while she looked down at Lena. "That might be the closest thing to a profanity I've ever heard from her."

"Really? Have you two not had your first fight? She yelled at me in another language three times already, and I don't think any of it was the same language." Texting with her phone, Kalia pushed a few buttons and then said, "Well, we're getting the doctor in here. You definitely didn't have feeling there in any previous evaluation, but I'm not a neurologist so I can't write that on your chart."

"So this is good?" Kara asked.

"I can't officially make that call, but yes," Kalia replied.

Sitting on the side of Lena's bed, Kara took the woman's hand. "You can feel something. You're getting better."

"I told you I would," Lena said, all assurance at that moment. "I don't break promises, especially to those about whom I care."

"I…I really care about you too, Lena. Do you think…? Do you think we could talk later?"

"Have we been doing anything else, darling?"

With a shy smile, Kara replied, "There's something I've been wanting to talk to you about, but I don't want to add any more stress to you. I don't like there being things unsaid between us, though. Maybe later, maybe just the two of us can talk?"

"Are you all right?" Lena asked, pushing Kara's glasses up her nose by the bridge.

Kara smiled at that motion, smiled at the barrier between them and how soon it might dissolve like sugar in coffee. It would be even sweeter.

"Better all the time," Kara replied.

In a few minutes, Dr. Queen appeared. "Maybe I should just move a bed in here."

"No. Too many people in here already. If it were up to me, Kara would be the only one here," Lena replied, making Kara's smile grow.

"You said she had feeling in the proximal end of the medial of the coxa," Dr. Queen said, staring down at Lena's leg.

"Her hip, it's her hip, there," Kara said pointing toward Lena's leg.

"Yes, thank you, Miss Danvers," Dr. Queen said dismissively, then asked Kalia, "Did you verify the reaction?"

"I verified a pain response."

"Hmmm." Pulling a pen from her pocket, Dr. Queen asked, "Miss Luthor, can you feel this?"

Brows pressed together, Lena scowled slightly as she admitted, "No."

"What about now?"

Head shaking as she squeezed Kara's hand, Lena quietly repeated, "No."

Kara opened her mouth, but the doctor shook her head at the blonde and asked, "Now?"

"Nothing," Lena admitted. "It must have been a…a fluke. I'm sorry, Kara. I'm sorry you got excited before. We'll just have to be patient."

"Hmmm. This?" The doctor asked, stabbing Lena with the pen.

"Gabh Transna Ort Fhéin!" Lena yelled out as her free hand slapped the bed. "Yes!"

"She said that to me before," Kalia said with a smile.

"What's going on?" Lena asked. "I only felt the last one."

"Lena, sweetie, the doctor wasn't touching you before," Kara informed the other woman. "When she poked your leg, you felt it."

"I felt it," Lena replied.

"She couldn't feel there before, right?" Kara asked for assurance.

"You're right."

"So, she's healing?"

Taking Lena's chart from Kalia, the doctor made some notes and said, "Well, this is highly encouraging. We'll want to run some tests and watch her progress over the next few days. It may not improve beyond this. It may continue to improve. Only time will tell."

"So this doesn't mean anything?" Kara asked, anxiety setting in.

"Miss Danvers, please take a breath. I'd mark this as encouraging. I'd like to do some tests today. With those, it's possible I can give you an answer. Based on her earlier level of paralysis, Miss Luthor would most likely have been able to use a wheelchair. Right now, with PT, it's possible she could stand in a standing frame. With continued improvement…" The doctor looked up, pausing.

"With continued improvement, what?" Kara asked.

"With continued improvement, she could walk with braces, but we're getting ahead of ourselves." The doctor clicked her pen closed. "I'm going to order some more tests, so we know what we're dealing with. Miss Luthor, any questions?"

Head flat to the bed and looking like she was trying to see her eyebrows, Lena shook her head.

"All right then. Kalia, alert us if there are any other changes."

When the doctor and other nurse left, Kara said, "Kalia, could you…uh…?"

"Leave again?"

Kara nodded.

"Whatever. I'm right outside again if she starts to walk or anything."

As soon as the door closed them inside the room, Kara squeezed Lena's hand and brushed the woman's forehead. "What's going on? You're all tense."

Wrapping her arms around Kara, Lena drew the blonde into her torso. After several moments, she whispered, "Kara, I was scared."

"You were scared?"

Nodding into blonde hair, Lena's voice wouldn't have been heard by another human who wasn't as close. "I know what I promised you, and I meant it. I was scared though. I didn't want to fail you. I didn't want to disappoint you. My mother always said—"

"No. You are not your mother, and you are not whatever she tried to make of you, you hear me?" Kara asked, leaning away from Lena. Seeing tears running down Lena's cheeks, she wiped them away with her thumbs. "This whole time you seemed fearless, but there was so much going on underneath the surface. Lena, you don't have to go it alone. You don't always have to be the strong one. Lean on me."

Running her hands along the blonde's back, fingertips playing against muscles hidden underneath the softness of a sweater a half a size too large, Lena replied, "Sometimes you're the strong one, aren't you…Kara?"

The word choice, that pause before her name, it made Kara wonder if Lena was asking her another question instead. What had she said to Lori? Subtext, the words written between the lines. It felt like Lena was waiting for Kara to ask a question that had yet to be voiced.

"Is there something you want to ask me, Lena?"

"No, I need to—"

"I owe you an answer," Kara reminded the other woman. "You answered my question. If you ask me a question, I'll answer it."

Kara watched that rise of brows, slight and quick. Lena's tongue snuck out just slightly from her mouth, moistening red lips, and Kara had to follow the motion with her gaze. Kara felt her heartbeat pick up to match Lena's. This could be the moment there was one fewer untruth between them.

"I need to call my daughter."

Kara nodded. "I'll stand outside. I'll make sure no one comes in."

"I'm sure you will."

Their gazes held each other for just a heartbeat too long after that was said. Kara rose, heading out the door while Lena dialed. She closed the door behind her, noticing Kalia's disinterest in her presence, and picking up the voices from within the room.

"Hi, darling," Lena said.

"What's going on!?" Lori replied.

"Possibly progress, but definitely nothing bad."

"You want to save me from having to break into your hospital records again?"

"You know, you're going to get caught and go to jail one day. There will be a bigger Luthor wing in prisons than in hospitals at this rate," Lena warned.

Lori snorted. "Please. There's no extradition. I'm already in Switzerland. Update me."

"I have some feeling in my upper legs. We're getting more tests done, but the doctor called it encouraging. We'll have to see how things go over the next few weeks, but I'm not concerned. I told you all would be fine."

There was a long silence, and then Lori asked, "So you might not be paralyzed?"

"Does it matter?"

"I'd…I'd like it if you weren't. I assume you feel the same."

"You'd win that bet. You don't need to worry though. No matter what, none of this will change anything. I'll see you for your birthday. We might have to change our vacation plans based on my…mobility."

"Can Kara come on vacation with us?" Lori asked, sounding more curious about the way her mother answered than interested in the outcome.

"We can discuss that," Lena replied, giving away nothing. "I love you, you know. I'm sorry this has been hard on you. That's the last thing that I wanted. Are you all right?"

"It's…I…I've been scared. I'm sorry if I haven't been strong the way you always wanted me to be. This is the worst thing that's ever happened, and I felt like I needed you. You were the one thing I couldn't have. I'm so sorry."

"Nonsense," Lena replied. "I think you've been a rock. This was overwhelming for me, and I had so many people to support me. I'm certain I would have fallen apart without Kara. The way you've held fast all alone out there, I'm terribly impressed. I couldn't be prouder."

"Really?" Lori's voice was small, but her hopes were high.

"I wouldn't lie to you. Anyway, we don't love each other despite. We love each other because. I love you because of everything you've done during this crisis and every day leading up to it. I love you unconditionally."

Turning her concentration inward, Kara ignored the rest of conversation in the hospital room. In Kara's mind, Lena was a better mother in those last few sentences than Lillian had been to Lena during the woman's whole life. Anyway, Lori and Lena deserved their privacy and Kara needed to remember that Alex gave some pretty great advice.


	17. 17-An Armed Society is a Polite Society

"Say it." Maggie nodded, one forearm on the table in Alex's apartment as the other hand rested on her thigh. She leaned, weight shifted slightly forward, her face serious.

"Oh, come on Mags," Alex replied from her chair across the table, arms crossed and head to the right.

"You need to say it."

"Ugh! Fine," Alex replied, hands striking the table and shaking the contents of her wine glass. The red liquid circled inside, nearing the rim and almost spilling before it began its descent again. "You're the best girlfriend in the world."

"And?" Maggie asked slowly as she smiled, deep dimples showing.

Shaking her head while she exhaled slowly, Alex replied, "And the greatest lover in the world."

Maggie chuckled. "As far as you know that's true."

"You keep this up, and maybe I'll have to increase my sampling of women. You know, the scientist in me finds this study invalid. Even if I were to add another, say, even nine women—"

"Nine women?" Maggie asked sitting upright. "Are you looking for a lab assistant? I can send you my resume."

Grabbing a roll from the middle of the table and tossing it at her girlfriend, Alex laughed as she said, "I've seen your resume you jerk."

Maggie also laughed as she deflected the roll with her arm. "I'm a jerk now? I thought I was the world's greatest girlfriend."

"My sampling of that is also extremely limited." As her phone buzzed on the table, signaling a text, Alex tilted it, so the screen caught her eye. "Kara is just about to take off. She should be here in two minutes."

"You don't show her that lasagna. You promised, Alex. Kara ate before she left."

"She did. She did," Alex said, hands raised in surrender. "You know that doesn't mean anything though."

"It means that if she touches my God damned lasagna, I'm going to shoot her," Maggie grumbled.

"That also doesn't mean anything," Alex said rising and walking around the table to her girlfriend. One hand squeezing Maggie's shoulder, Alex asked, "This new task force is really getting to you, isn't it?"

Turning to face Alex, Maggie said, "The damn overtime is getting to me. I love your sister, I really do, but I finally get one date night with you and here comes your lapdog. This isn't about being anti-Kara. This is about wanting some us time. I feel like I'm going to come over some night and you're going to look at me like I'm a stranger." She ended with a deep exhalation, hands in her lap as she blew the day's troubles across them.

"Never," Alex replied as she took to her knee. Placing a hand over Maggie's, Alex waited until Maggie looked at her and added, "This is temporary your work situation. We both go through this. You've been incredibly patient when my job pulled at me in ways that didn't seem fair. How could I be any less so?"

Maggie considered that for a few moments, then replied, "That's true especially since I'm the world's greatest girlfriend." She raised her eyebrows waiting.

Alex grinned back, knowing what was expected of her. "And lover."

"Hey, you said it not me."

They both laughed, some of the tension of the day melting away as they kissed. This was what they needed more than food. When the world pulled at them demanding a physical distance, they needed to remind themselves and each other that the emotional distance was an illusion.

The 'tink-tink' on the window pane was met with a sigh, and Alex pushed up and let her sister in.

"Sorry, Alex, Maggie. I'm…Did you not get my text?" Kara asked, hands fumbling a bit at having stepped into the intimacy.

"It's fine Kara," Alex said. "We were expecting you."

Maggie grabbed the errant roll that had bounced off of her and lay on the table, ripping off a piece and taking a bite.

Kara smiled shyly, then sniffed the air and said, "Something smells good."

"Ahem." When Alex looked at her, Maggie made a little gun out of her free hand, mocking firing it.

Ignoring her girlfriend, Alex looked at her sister and asked, "What's going on sweetie? What couldn't you tell us over the phone?"

Kara nodded at her sister, trying to align her thoughts while she sat on the couch. "So, remember how I told you guys about Lori?"

Alex glanced over at Maggie, then said, "Sure."

"Well forget it. I mean literally forget her if you can. I know you can't, but I wish you could."

"Kara, what's wrong?" Alex asked as she sat next to her sister.

"Nothing actually," Kara replied. "It's just…I can't explain it. I shouldn't have mentioned her. I will never mention her again. Can we all just agree to that?"

"Is Lena in trouble?" Alex asked.

"No."

"Okay. Is…anyone else in trouble?"

"No. Alex, everything is fine. I just…you're right. I've got to stop eavesdropping. Between being a reporter and being Supergirl, the lines get blurry for me sometimes. I'm learning some real life lessons though. I'm taking your advice. Unless it's work for the greater good, I won't do it again."

"Sure you will," Maggie said tossing a roll at Kara which the girl casually snagged out of the air.

"You're involved in this conversation?" Alex asked.

Maggie shrugged. "It's part of the world's greatest girlfriend sisterly advice upgrade. You bought the premium package."

"On my salary?" Alex replied, grinning as she leaned back on the couch.

"We take installment payments," Maggie said with a grin before she shifted her gaze over to Kara. "You're going to screw up again. We all screw-up. Being super doesn't make you perfect. It means when you screw up, it makes the five o'clock news."

"That hardly seems fair," Kara said chewing on her roll.

"You're bulletproof. Suck it up, Buttercup. Now, this thing with Lena, did it blow up in your face?"

"No."

"I'm shocked," Maggie replied. "Alex?"

"I'm more supportive but curious," Alex admitted.

"Lena and I talked. She told me what's going on with this other person. She opened up a lot to me and…" Kara looked down at her own hands, smiling. "I like her."

Placing her hand over Kara's, Alex asked, "Lena?"

Meeting her sister's gaze, Kara said, "Uh…yes. Lena is a…good person. You think so, right? She stepped in front of a gun for me."

"You're all over the place. What's going on right now, Kara?" Alex asked.

Trying to focus on what she wanted to say and keep the secret agent and the detective in the room off the case, Kara replied, "So good news. Lena got some feeling back in her upper legs."

"That's great," Maggie said.

"I think so," Kara agreed. "The doctor wouldn't commit to anything. No one will say she'll walk or anything, but they're calling it progress. They did a bunch of more tests on her this afternoon. They actually brought machines into her room to do it."

"What kind of machines?" Alex asked, sitting forward on the couch.

"I don't know, machines. It was medical stuff, Alex. Lena probably knows. She and the doctor talked for a while afterward. Ask her if you're curious. I didn't want to be tempted to snoop, so I left for lunch. When I came back, they were still in Lena's room having a consultation. I hung out with Jake until they were done."

"Who's Jake?" Maggie asked.

"He's one of Lena's nurses. He's nice."

"So you know nothing about what's going on with Lena?" Alex asked.

"We talked some about it afterward. The steroids are helping, and the swelling is going down. She's being all piss and vinegar Lena again, telling me how she's going to make a complete recovery. I think she will. She says she will and…" Kara nodded, her smile growing again. "She keeps her promises."

"Are you keeping up with this?" Alex asked Maggie.

"What she's saying, or what she's not saying?" Maggie replied.

"I feel like we're talking around something," Alex admitted.

"May I?"

"Oh, please," Alex said, gesturing at Maggie. "The floor is yours."

"Look, Little Danvers. No pressure, but you came over here to talk, so either talk or don't let the door…uh, window hit you where the good Lord split you. So, do you want to talk?"

"I do, I…" Kara looked nervously over at her sister.

Lifting her arm up, Alex said, "Come here, sweetie."

With a small smile, Kara rolled her upper half into Alex's lap. The blonde's smile immediately began to grow as soon as her sister began to play with her hair and rub her back.

'Lapdog,' Maggie voiced silently.

'Stop it,' Alex replied silently.

"So, Kara, this is about Lena?" Maggie asked.

Kara nodded, still partially curled into her sister's lap.

"Okay, how about this kid. This is about you and Lena?" When Kara just looked up at her, Maggie stood. "Why don't I go for a walk and let you sisters talk."

"Maggie, wait," Kara said, grabbing Maggie's wrist when the detective walked by the couch. "Please don't leave. You give good advice, and I could really use your…experience."

"Right," Maggie said taking a seat on the loveseat. "My experience as a…woman. Okay, so do you want to tell me something, ask me something, just listen to me say something? What's it going to be, Little Danvers?"

"I just…I like Lena."

"Yeah, we got that kid. What else you got?" Maggie asked.

"You guys like Lena, right?"

Still stroking her sister's hair, Alex nodded with a small smile.

Maggie replied, "Well, I don't know her well, but she didn't try to resist arrest when I cuffed her and I liked that. Also, she didn't sue the city for false arrest after that, and the Luthors have more money than God so she could have. I like that too."

"Maggie," Alex hissed out. "Not helpful."

"I'm being honest. All I know about her is what I've seen, and I'm judging her on that. Look, Kara, I got kicked out of my house when I was a kid not for anything I ever did but for who I was. I'm not going to judge Lena for who she is but for what she does. So far, I don't see her doing anything wrong. She's good by me. I don't think that's why you're here though."

"It's not?" Kara asked.

"No, kid. This isn't about how I feel about Lena or how Alex feels. It isn't about how all of National City feels. The question is, 'How does Kara Danvers feel about Lena?' So, how does she feel?"

Kara was slowly nodding to herself. "Lena has always been such a good friend to me. Even the first day I met her, she said something nice to me. She didn't have to, but she was just nice. It wasn't because I could do anything for her either. She's just a decent person. People don't see that. People hear her name, think of the money, see the power, and never know the person they meet. It's so unfair. She says she's used to it and it doesn't bother her, but I can see it stings. I can see the way her eyes pinch; her mouth turns down when they tell lies about her. It's so unfair." There was unhidden anger in Kara's voice by the end.

Rubbing Kara's back, Alex said, "Breathe sweetie."

Taking her sister's advice, Kara took a breath and let it out slowly before continuing. When she spoke again, her mind was on happier times. "Lena has become a staple in my life. I don't think I even realized it until this happened. We texted each other multiple times a day. Even in the hospital, I'd catch myself checking my phone, and that was just a habit because of Lena. She was lying there in a coma, and I was still expecting her to text me, to tell me that she'd just had the 'most dreary call with a dreadful bore of a man, and she needed me to share an amusing bit with her to brighten her day'. That's how she messages, just like she speaks." Kara had pulled out her phone while she spoke, looking at the much shorter text history with Lena now, just a few texts each. "Sometimes, when we'd text at night, I could get her to use a smiley face, but that took work. I remember the first one she sent. I remember sending her back five. Her response was, 'Goodness.' Just the one word." Kara sighed.

Eyebrows high, Alex looked over at Maggie who was grinning at Kara. Alex knew Kara had quite a crush going, but it there was no hiding the emotion now.

"Then this happened. Then I held her in my arms and watched the blood pour out of her body. Rao on high help me; when she closed her eyes, I thought the light would leave her. I kept trying to imagine a world without her and I couldn't." Rolling onto her back, Kara looked up at her sister. "It was like you, Alex. It was like trying to imagine my life without you, and I couldn't. She told me once that she'd never had a friend like me, that she'd never had family like me. Somewhere along the line, Lena became my family too. I've been so busy saving the world that I couldn't see what was important to me."

Rubbing that worry spot between her sister's eyebrows, Alex said, "You know, sometimes those glasses you wear stop more than your x-ray vision."

"I think I'm just a dope," Kara replied.

"Maybe that's it," Alex agreed.

"So now what, kid?" Maggie asked.

Pushing further upright, but keeping her head on her sister's shoulder, Kara replied, "I need to talk to Lena, not about Lena."

"Good answer, Kara," Alex said, still rubbing the blonde's back.

"I have a problem though."

"You came to problem solvers, so shoot," Maggie said.

"Since Lena is…"

"In the hospital?" Maggie suggested.

"What? No. Well, she is, but that isn't what I mean. I don't care about that. Well, I care but…" Kara shook her head. "I think she's single. I think if she were dating someone, she would have told me. I don't know because she has secrets, but I think I'd know. I'm going with single because if she's not, then that's another problem. So let's say she's single. I only know one person that Lena has ever dated, and his name was Jack."

"Ah." Maggie nodded. "So you're worried Lena's straight."

"Well…" Kara hesitated, her gaze held by Maggie's for several moments before she admitted, "Yes. I like her, Maggie. I don't just like her. I like her, like her. You understand that, right?"

"Did you try asking her to check yes or no or the note you slipped her?" Maggie replied.

"What does that mean?" Kara asked.

"You're trying to be sarcastic with a space alien. Her high school experience wasn't the most normal" Alex reminded her girlfriend.

"Right," Maggie said. "I'll use a more modern reference. Kara, when I met your sister, she told me she wasn't gay. You'd be amazed how good the sex can be with a straight girl."

"Well now you're just pissing me off," Alex said.

"What I'm saying is, talk to the girl. Right now you're not dating her. If you tell her that you like her and she's straight, not interested, involved, whatever, then you're still not dating her. That's a neutral proposition. If she likes you too, then maybe you get your happily ever after with a hot billionairess. So you either end up exactly where you are or hot billionairess. Kara, that math is simple. You can't lose. Just talk to her. You won't lose your friend by being honest with her."

"You think that's what I should do?" Kara asked.

"I think if you don't, and your sister gets any more pissed off at me tonight, I'm going to go talk to Luthor."

"Get in line," Alex mumbled.

"Thanks. So, I have one more piece of advice to ask. It's about this," Kara said, tugging on her costume.

"Oh," Alex said, exhaling heavily.

Tossing her cellphone on the table, Kara turned out of her sister's arms so that she could face the redhead and said, "I have to tell her, Alex. I can't keep lying to her. I can't tell her how I feel, see how she feels, and have this lie between us. You get that, right?"

"Kara, you're invulnerable, and she's lying paralyzed in a hospital bed because she stepped between you and bullets. How do you think she's going to take that?" Alex asked.

"Well…I…"

"She won't blame Kara," Maggie said, surprising both sisters. "Kara didn't shoot her, and Luthor knows that. Luthor made a choice, one that sucked because of the people who went after Kara, but that wasn't Kara's fault. Kara, if someone was going to shoot Lena with a Kryptonite bullet, would you step in the way?"

"Absolutely!" Kara said without hesitation.

"What if you found out later she had some kind of tech that would have deflected it harmlessly?" Maggie posed.

"Well, that sucks. Will she make me one of those?"

Maggie smiled. "With that big brain of hers? Who knows." Standing, Maggie said, "Kid, do you have any doubts about how you're feeling for Luthor?"

"None," Kara replied with a headshake.

"Then don't doubt in your friend either. I can't tell you that girl is going to want the kind of relationship that you do, but she isn't going to throw away your friendship. I don't know what kind of love she has for you, but I know you. You're one of the two most lovable people on this planet. It's very Shakespearean." When Kara furrowed her brow, Maggie smiled until her dimples showed and said, "What's in a name? There's just something about you Danvers women. You will not lose your friend by telling her how you feel. I give you the Maggie Sawyer promise, and you can take that to the bank."

"You really think so?" Kara asked eagerly.

"Hey, I wasn't stupid enough to stay away from your sister, and Luthor probably has fifty IQ points on me."

"Probably seventy," Alex said.

"Seventy?" Maggie asked.

"Eighty," Kara added.

"Mother fucker," Maggie mumbled, rubbing her hands over her face. She dropped her hands and asked, "How the how is her...? No, never mind. I'm getting off-topic, and I'm hungry. Kara, do you think she's going to put conditions on your friendship because of your feelings?"

Mind wandering back to Lena, to the way she loved, Kara smiled. "No. Lena loves unconditionally. I can't say she'll feel the way I feel, but you're right. We're family, and she'll love me just the same as she does now. Thanks, Maggie." Suddenly Kara was in front of Maggie, hugging the other woman. "You give great advice."

"Whoa! Easy kid. You're gonna give me whiplash." Seeing Alex on her phone, scrolling through something and looking disengaged, Maggie asked, "Hey Danvers, you still here with us for this conversation?"

"Totally," Alex replied. "I have a priority situation here that needs a moment of my attention. I can multi-task though. I hear everything you're saying Maggie, and I agree."

Alex kept her face schooled to neutrality. Years in the DEO had taught her to hone that skill to perfection. She watched her screen, entering the information needed and sending it out to the site. Even now she was signing up for a cooking class that specialized in Italian desserts and promised to teach how to make the best tiramisu. The best girlfriend in the world, and apparently the best lover, deserved the best hand-made dessert. Maggie definitely gave the best and most caring heartfelt advice. Words were sometimes hard for Alex. That love language to connect through spoken connectivity could be a challenge, but this simple language of doing a task, giving a gift, that made sense to her. She hoped Maggie understood her love language, hoped Maggie heard the words she didn't say but instead showed.

It was another twenty minutes and three rolls before Kara left, heading over to the hospital to have a conversation with Lena. Maggie refused to get the lasagna until the window was closed and locked. Alex pointed out that a window lock couldn't stop Kara, but Maggie said it was about manners.

As they sat at the table and Alex's phone rang, Maggie, groaned. "Ignore it."

"It's Winn. I can't. He's checking that thing for me." She picked up the call. "Hey, Winn. What did you find out for me?"

"Nice to hear your voice too."

"Winn, this is my one date night this week with Maggie, and Kara left about thirty seconds ago. Just tell me what you have for me."

"Sheesh…so cranky," Winn mumbled. "Well, the doctor is clean. Her name is Dr. Patricia Queen. She's one of the top neurosurgeons in the country. She works for the federal government, but nothing top secret. She's part of the National Institute of Health which is under the Health and Human Services department. She has an ex-husband to whom she makes alimony payment, but what she's making from this job for Luthor will pay that for two years. No kids. Nice townhouse in Virginia. She's an Episcopalian."

"So she's squeaky clean?" Alex asked.

"Well, her divorce was kind of messy, but no infidelity or scandals or anything. She got married while in med school and has been a real workaholic since. Guy paid the bills on their crappy little apartment while she went to school. Now she pays his bills. How do I get one of those deals?" Winn said with a little laugh.

"Did you get Lena's medical records?"

"I did, but I don't like this Alex. You're sure this is necessary? The doctor is clean."

"Exactly," Alex replied. "I don't like it. I have a past. Maggie has a past. You have a past Winn?"

"Uh…well, my Dad's kind of a mass murderer and I ended up in foster care so…a little bit."

"People have a past. People without a past aren't real," Alex informed him.

"O-kay."

"Just send me Lena's medical records, all of them. You got her tests from today, right?"

"I did, but—"

"Winn…"

He sighed, the sound of keys coming over the phone line even as she rose and grabbed her tablet from the coffee tablet, bringing it back to the table.

"We have a date tonight, Danvers, or am I going to finger this here lasagna?" Maggie asked.

"What did Maggie just say?"

"Nothing," Alex replied to Winn, opening her tablet. "You sent the records?"

"They're in your inbox," he replied, stifling a laugh. "So, what exactly are you looking for?"

Alex grabbed the most recent records, finding Lena's MRI of her spine. She looked at the image, expanding it and zooming in on the area she thought to be compromised. There was a misalignment and a compression, definitely some swelling. It was exactly what they said.

"Huh."

"What?" Maggie and Winn said at the same time, Maggie coming to stand behind Alex.

"Her MRI looks…okay. I mean, she needs some therapy, but it looks okay," Alex said.

"I told you Alex. The doctor is clean," Winn said.

"I guess," Alex said slowly, going through the attached files until she got to the earlier ones, finding the first MRI she could and opening it. As soon as she had the image in front of her, she inhaled sharply. Leaning back in her chair, Alex stared at the image.

"What are we looking at?" Maggie asked.

"Winn, you're sure these are all Lena's images?" Alex asked.

"I'm sure they were all in her patient file and marked with her patient number. Why?"

Bringing moisture back to her mouth, Alex licked at her lips. "Winn, I need you to find me something on this doctor."

"But she's clean, Alex."

"No. No, she's not. I don't know what the fuck is going on, but something is wrong here. Whatever it is, find it."

"…okay," Winn said. "Alex, is Lena in trouble?"

Shaking her head and sighing, Alex admitted, "I have no idea. I don't have any clue what's going on here. I'd use the word impossible, except my sister flies and catches bullets. Just get me answers, okay? And Winn—?"

"I know. I know. Don't tell Kara." Her mumbled, "I going to get a tattoo that says 'Don't tell' and then I'll have a blank for whatever name I have to put in this week."

"Thanks, Winn," Alex said with a small smile, despite what she was looking at. "As soon as you get anything, send it to me, okay?"

"Yeah, I'm on it. Bye."

"Later." Alex disconnected, staring at the image on the MRI.

"So, I'm no doctor," Maggie said, a plate of lasagna in one hand and a fork in the other as she took another bite, chewing and swallowing carefully before commenting. "That part in the middle there; that looks like it's supposed to go together."

"You would be correct," Alex said, still staring at the image.

"Okay. What is that part?"

"That would be the spinal cord," Alex informed Maggie.

"Oh." Maggie nodded thoughtfully. "So, I'm confused. Just throw me a bone here, Danvers. What's going on?"

Alex sighed, rubbing at her face with one hand before pointing at the image on the tablet. "This is Lena's image from when she first woke up. This is where the bullet severed her spinal cord."

"Severed," Maggie repeated.

"Severed," Alex said, looking up at Maggie and nodding. Then Alex switched images. "This is her MRI from today showing the same section of Lena's spine. Here it shows compression of the spinal cord, but it's whole. It's healed."

Maggie's head tilted to the left suddenly as her face scrunched up. "Again, not a doctor, but they do that?"

"No." Alex turned the tablet, so she was showing a landscape view and put the two images side-by-side, zooming in on them. Only the two relevant sections were showing. "Nerves don't regrow. This here says Lena never walks again. This one tells a different story. We can't do this."

"We who?"

"We humans," Alex replied. "As far as I know, human technology can't regrow nerves."

Together they stared at the screen for several moments, both taking in the images, until Maggie said, "So, your sister just flew over there to tell Lena that she's Supergirl."

"Fuck!" Alex said, tossing the tablet partway along the length of the table as she grabbed her phone and hit Kara's number in her contacts. "Please don't be too late. Please pick up, Kara."

When a vibrating buzz came from behind them on the coffee table, both Maggie and Alex turned. It was Maggie who walked over, picking up Kara's cellphone and holding it up for Alex to see.

"Fuck!" Alex yelled, tossing her phone to slide along the table with the tablet.

"Let's go after her," Maggie said, almost dropping her plate in her haste to put it on the table.

"It won't matter. She left minutes ago, Maggie. She's there already. By the time we get there, it will be too late."

"We have to try…call Lena."

"What?"

Maggie nodded. "Just call her and ask to speak to Kara. Just tell her there's an emergency. Get her back here."

"I don't have her number," Alex said with a deep sigh.

Going to Kara's recent calls, Maggie smiled and hit redial. "Kara does." The phone rang several times before going to voicemail. "I got voicemail."

"Try again," Alex said.

Maggie repeated the call twice more with the same response. "She's not picking up. I can call the NCPD. There will be a cop on site there. I'll get them to get Kara to call us." Maggie made a call, waiting for someone to pick up. "What's Lena's room number?"

"Jake!" Alex yelled.

"That's not a number, Alex."

Grabbing Kara's phone from the table, she went through her sister's photos. "Food, food, food, Jesus Kara, could you take more pictures of food? Oh, look, a puppy…and more food. Wipe board in Lena's room…found it!" Half throwing herself over the table, Alex retrieved her phone and dialed the number that was written under the name Jake.

On the second ring, a deep voice said, "Nurse Knight."

"Jake!" Alex said excitedly.

"Uh…yes."

"Jake, this is Alex Danvers. I'm Kara's sister. We have a…I need to talk to her now. She left her phone here. She should be in Lena's room. Can you get her? It's kind of an emergency."

"Um, okay," The man said, the sound of soft-bottomed hospital shoes on linoleum floors padding through the hallway lying under his words. "Is everything okay Miss Danvers?"

"It's just family stuff. Tell her it's an Uncle J'onn thing. She'll understand."

"Okay. I'll tell her it's about Uncle John." Jake reached the door, turning the handle as he said, "Miss Danvers? Your sister is on the phone, and she says that your Uncle Whoa! Uh...excuse me, ladies." Backing out of the room, Jake closed the door. "Uh, I'm sorry Miss Danvers, but Miss Luthor and Miss Danvers are, uh, busy."

"Jake, this is important."

"I understand, but I work for Miss Luthor. I don't interrupt a couple when they're having a…private moment."

"Private?" Alex asked, her voice cracking.

"Not that," Jake said, "Though you'd be surprised what you see in hospitals. The ladies obviously had the door closed for a reason. Look, if it's an emergency, I can knock, but they didn't stop when I spoke so—"

"Was my sister wearing her glasses?" Alex asked almost tripping over her words.

"Honestly? I have no idea. All I could see was the back of her head. It was just a sheet of blonde hair kind of, you know, hanging down."

Alex inhaled sharply. "It wasn't in a ponytail?"

Jake thought for a moment. "No. I don't think I've seen her with it down before. It's pretty. What do you want—?"

"Never mind," Alex said, eyes closing as she leaned back in the chair. "I uh…I just got a text from my uncle, and…it's over. It's resolved. You don't need to tell Kara anything. Just never mind, okay?"

"Oh, okay Miss Danvers. You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah." Alex took in a deep breath, then quietly said, "Thanks, Jake. Have a good night."

"You too, Miss."

Hanging up the phone, Alex held it to her chest then slammed her fist down on the table. "Fuck!" Plates and glasses jumped.

Hand over her cellphone, Maggie asked, "Alex?"

Alex shook her head, "She knows. Lena knows."

Nodding slowly, Maggie spoke to the person on the other side of the phone briefly and then disconnected. "Okay, so now what?"

"I don't know," Alex admitted. "I wanted to trust her. I wanted Kara to be right. I wanted to live in a world where Kara could be right about these things."

"Hey, we don't know what this is yet. Maybe it's some L-Corp tech thing. We need to find out."

"How?" Alex asked.

"We ask Lena. Alex, your sister, is going all in with this woman. She's laying her cards on the table. You do the same thing. Tell her what you know and ask for an explanation. Just do it." Holding out her hand, Maggie wiggled her fingers. "Come on. It will be a great cop date night. We can go question someone together. It's terribly romantic."

"You are the world's greatest girlfriend you know."

"Oh, I know. I expect to get a little trophy on Girlfriend Day."

"There's a Girlfriend Day?" Alex asked, a smile trying to tug at the corner of her mouth.

"Really, Danvers? Jeez, your education sucks. We'll work on that. Let's just go. I'll explain it to you in the car."

Standing, Alex shook her head, then hugged Maggie fiercely. As she stepped back, she said, "Stay here. Have a nice date with your lasagna, but use a napkin. I'm in a lousy mood, and I expect to be in a worse mood by the time I get to the hospital. The world's best girlfriend shouldn't have to put up with this mood."

"But the world's best girlfriend will put up with this mood," Maggie countered.

"I know, which is why I love you. Just let me go do this. If I needed backup, I'd take you. I think it's time for Lena and me to have a little one-on-one."

"You're sure?"

Alex nodded.

"You remember she can't defend herself, right? I mean, normally you can kick her ass. Right now, she can't even slappy fight against you."

"I'm not going to hurt her, Mags," Alex said shaking her head as she walked into the bedroom, continuing to talk as she walked around. "I'm just going to talk to her. I'm going to ask about her doctor, her medical procedures, what the fuck is going on. I'm going to ask her what her intentions are toward my sister." As Alex walked back out, her holster in place, she slid her side arm into it. "I'm just going to have a conversation with her."

"The kind of conversation that needs a .45?"

"An armed society is a polite society," Alex replied kissing Maggie once more. "Don't wait up."


	18. 18-Love Because Not Despite

"Hey," Kara said with surprise as she stopped at the door of Lena's hospital room. "You're not flat on your back."

Indeed, Lena now lay at a ten-degree angle in her bed. It wasn't much of a change from lying flat. However, it was more about the statement that it made. Lying flat said that her spinal cord might be compromised and she couldn't be moved. That angle made a different statement leaving room for questions and hope with reason.

Face scrunched up as she stared at a tablet in her hands, Lena murmured, "Good observance. You should be a reporter."

"Lena." Kara entered the room, walking up to the bed. "Lena." Kara paused, still waiting to be acknowledged. "Lena!"

"What!?" Lena snapped back, looking at the blonde as she slapped the tablet down.

For several seconds, they just stared at each other.

Pointing up and down the length of Lena's body, Kara asked, "What's going on? Test results?"

"Sorry," Lena said with a nod. "I'm in the middle of details on a deal. I need to make sure I understand every aspect of this design before I sign off on this. It's important. Tests though, yes, those were good." She pulled the tablet back to her face.

"Hey, this is important," Kara said, gently pushing the tablet away. "Can I please get about ten seconds of eye contact here? I think your health should be a priority."

"Kara, this is a twelve million dollar deal."

"Money is more important than your health? I think you have enough money."

"Money is people's jobs. If I make a mistake, if I don't do my job, it leads to layoffs. If I don't get my act together, people will be unemployed. I'll be fine. I'll have money. The C-suite never has to worry. I have responsibilities though."

Sitting on the side of Lena's bed, Kara placed her hand on the woman's upper arm. "I'm sorry."

"You're sorry that I'm the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company? Well, that's a new one."

Shaking her head, Kara said, "No, I'm sorry that I forgot how many responsibilities you have. It isn't fair, is it? Sometimes it feels like you're carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders."

"Hmmm," Lena made a noise of vague agreement.

"You know, you can always come to me, right? I'll listen. You don't have to go it alone. Sometimes…" Kara's voice petered out.

"Are you all right?"

"Good test results, you said," Kara responded, not answering Lena's question. "Would you be willing to share any details? No is an answer. I'd love to know more, but I want to respect your privacy."

Lena's answering smile was small but gentle. "One of tests they did is called an electromyogram and nerve conduction study. Basically, it measures how well nerves can send electrical signals to the muscles in your body. I still have some healing to do. There's still swelling, but the signals are there for the most part."

Kara blinked, thinking she understood but needed to hear the right words. "You're going to walk?"

"I'm going to need time, patience, and a lot of physical therapy, but I'm going to walk."

Slowly, Kara smiled at those words. There were good test results. Lena was going to walk. Right now, Kara didn't need to be Supergirl to fly. Lena's words lifted her.

"Now, was there anything else because—" Lena's phone buzzed on her side table. As she reached for it, Kara grabbed her hand.

"Ignore that."

"It could be work. I've got so much work to make up, Kara."

"Then they'll leave a voicemail, and you'll call them back. I know you're trying to keep people employed, but can we talk for just a few minutes? I promise to let you get back to it if you want to after that."

As the phone buzzed again, Lena looked over at it, then nodded. "Ten minutes."

Smiling, Kara grabbed the phone off the table and dropped it into the drawer, closing it up. "I'll get it for you afterward." She stood, trying to put her thoughts into words. Her hands frittered together as Kara turned away from Lena, trying to unjumble her mind. She walked over to the door, closing it then walking the length of the room as she took several deep breaths. The air felt warm in her lungs, warmer going in than going out. She knew it was her imagination, and the room was cool and normal, and that concentrating on tiny little details like the air around her was just an avoidance mechanism. She didn't want to avoid this though. She wanted to face this, face it head on and see what lay on the other side. She was hoping it was the woman who made her stomach feel like dropping in freefall: utterly, fantastically, weightless.

"Kara?" Lena waited, but there was no answer. "All right. Well, I'm just going to be…I need to finish going through this, all right?" When there was no answer, she lifted the tablet and began to delve deeper, layer by layer, into the engineering specs again.

Several feet from the foot of the bed and back to Lena, Kara was speaking silently to herself. She wanted to do this. She needed to do this. She'd been avoiding doing this because of Lena's health. If that barrier was gone, then it was time to remove this barrier between them. Inhaling deeply and letting out her breath, Kara took out her hair tie and ran her hand through her hair. She shook her head while she stuck the hair tie around her wrist. Pulling off her glasses, she began to speak even before she turned around.

"Lena, I want you to know this was never about trust. I trust you. I've trusted you for a very long time. This is about…safety, security, a lifetime long habit, and really just a great friendship and me being afraid that if I said anything, I might ruin that. Does that makes sense?"

"Mmmm."

"There's a difference between secrets and privacy even when they seem to be the same thing. Sometimes things feel too intimate, and…sometimes things feel so perfect with someone. You're my best friend. I've been scared to lose you. I won't ask you to promise me that it won't happen. I just want you to know how scared I've been about this. I want you to know that the idea of losing you, that almost losing you, has felt like losing my whole world. That's not hyperbole." Kara took a deep breath. "Okay I…I'm just stalling. I'm just going to do this. By the light of Rao, I'm nervous." Closing her eyes and biting her lip, Kara turned. She was quiet for several seconds, just waiting.

Finally, Lena gave a slight laugh and said, "There you are, you clever little devil. That's where you've been hiding. I knew I'd ferret you out. Oh, I've got you now."

Eyes snapping open, Kara looked directly at Lena who stared at…her tablet.

With a little smirk, Lena tapped on the screen. "This navigation system in inherently flawed. You first need to linearize the nonlinear model. It may be initially accurate, but it deteriorates over time. We'll need a filtering algorithm which is—" Turning to Kara, Lena's voice faltered as the smile fell off her face.

"Hi," Kara said, arms crossed.

Lena said nothing, just slowly lowered the tablet to the bed.

Walking over to Lena, Kara sat on the side of the bed. "So, this isn't how I wanted to do this. I thought about telling you this dozens of times. I've got orders about not telling people, and you don't need any more reasons for people to want to kill you. Then…" Kara exhaled slowly. "I didn't want to ruin what we had. We're perfect Lena and…" Pursing her lips, Kara asked, "You get what I'm trying to tell you here, right?"

"Oh my God," Lena said, hands covering her face. "Why Kara?"

Putting her glasses on the bedside table, Kara took Lena's hands in her own, pulling them to her own face. "Honey, please look at me. Don't be upset. Please, don't be upset. I know I lied to you. I know you got shot and you probably hate me for that right now. I know that—"

"You're an idiot."

"Uh…I've been hearing that a lot lately. Do you hate me?"

Lena sighed, closing her eyes, but she opened them again when she felt Kara's forehead touch hers. "I could never hate you. You're a well-meaning idiot."

Lena's hands still on her face, Kara ran her hands over the woman's face. She examined the way her fingers looked against that pale, Irish skin. "Lena, there's something else I want to tell you."

"Just put yourself back together first. You're in a public place."

"I have to get this out," Kara replied. "Ever since you almost died, I've had a lot of time to think. All I've done is think and blame myself, but think about what's important. You Lena, you're important."

"Kara, hair, glasses, now," Lena stressed, shaking the blonde slightly by the face.

"Just listen to me. You said you never had family like me. Well, I think of you as family too. You're not just a friend to me. I need you to know that. I need you to know how I feel about you."

As the door clicked open behind Kara, Lena's eyes widened. She inhaled sharply. The blonde's eyes were unfocused, her superhero hero/reflexes lost in her lack of concentration or her concentration on other matters. In seconds Kara's mind would no doubt catch up to the fact that someone was walking into the room. Those seconds would matter though.

Staring into Lena's eyes, Kara said, "I don't want anymore—" Lips, lips touched hers. As Lena kissed her, Kara's eyes flew wide open and then fluttered closed.

"Miss Danvers? Your sister is on the phone, and she says that your Uncle Whoa! Uh...excuse me, ladies." Rubbing the back of his neck, Jake backed out of the room, pulling the door shut.

As the door clicked closed, Lena opened her eyes and verified that she and Kara were alone. Suddenly, she pushed Kara away, her voice strict but not loud. "Damn it, Kara."

"You…you…you kissed me."

With a tiny noise of aggravation, Lena said, "Hair. Glasses. Now."

"But—"

"Now," Lena demanded, green eyes flashing.

Kara opened her mouth, wanting to argue. She had revealed herself to Lena. She had been about to tell Lena her feelings; then Lena was kissing her. Now, Lena was yelling at her. Man, women were complicated. Pouting, she put her hair back, but her mind kept going back to the feeling of full, soft lips on hers. It had been just lips, Lena's mouth fretting along her lower lip and then moving up to capture the rest of her mouth. As suddenly as the kiss had started, it was over. Kara wished she'd been prepared for that kiss, ready to appreciate it. She could really go for a round two.

As she slid on her glasses, Kara said, "Okay?"

"Better. Thank you," Lena replied. "Now, don't ever do that again."

"Do what again? Kiss you? You kissed me."

Lena nodded. "And damn good thing I did. Jake walked into the room while you were jabbering on. Do you have any idea what would have happened if he'd recognized you?"

"That's why you kissed me because of Jake?"

"Of course. Why else would I kiss you?" Lena replied. When she saw the painful reaction on Kara's face, she realized what she'd said, "Oh. Oh, Kara, no I…" She slid her hand over Kara's.

Kara pulled her hand back and stood, staring down at Lena.

"Kara I…you know I care terribly for you."

"Terribly," Kara repeated, feeling like she'd been punched by a Valeronian.

"Kara, sit down please."

Taking a deep breath, Kara nodded as she sat on the side of the bed again. "I'm sorry. You have a right to your feelings. I just…that got confusing."

"I didn't mean to confuse you. I was just trying to protect you," Lena explained.

"Stop. Stop trying to protect me, Lena. I'm invulnerable."

"Shhh," Lena said, looking around the room as if they weren't the only two people there. "Don't say things like that," Lena whispered.

Kara shrugged. "Lena, who do you think is going to hear us? There's no one else here. The closest person is…" Kara stopped, concentrating. "There's no one in the room next door. The patient in the next room I asleep. There are two nurses speaking at the nurse's station. Oh, someone's pregnant. Congrats."

"Dear Lord," Lena said, rubbing her face with both hands briefly. "Kara, stop being all…you know, not Kara. Just stop it."

"You mean Supergirl?"

Eyes wide, Lena lifted her hands into the air before letting them fall to the bed again. "What part of don't do that is unclear? Don't do it. Don't talk about it. Just don't, all right? Can we just forget the little reveal? I'll pretend it never happened and we can just go on the way we were. How does that sound?"

"It sounds like you want me to go back into the closet. It sounds like you don't want all of me in your life. You want to pick and choose. That's not how it works. Lena, this is who I am. I'm a package deal. You can't just order up the parts of me you like à la carte."

"But Kara—"

"No, let me finish," Kara said, taking Lena's hand. "Lena, I want the whole thing with you. Every part of me wants to know every part of you. I know it won't be perfect, but that's what makes it better. Who wants perfect, right? Everything between us is great right now. More of great is better, amazing, maybe as close to perfect as people can get. Just give it a try. I was afraid that if I said anything, that if anything changed with us, I'd lose my friend. I don't believe that will happen. I promise you won't lose your friend. You can gain the rest of me though. Give that a try. What have you got to lose?"

An awkward expression crossed Lena's face, and she said, "Kara, I'm not sure how to say this."

"You're straight?"

"What? No. I'm rather…whatever. That's not an issue."

"You don't find me attractive?" Kara guessed.

Lena shook her head. "Good Lord. You're the idiot, not me. You're very attractive, Kara. You're adorable."

Feeling encouraged, Kara smiled and asked, "Are you seeing someone?"

"No, I haven't had any time to—"

"So you're single!" Kara bit her lower lip, struggling to keep her body from rising from the bed. "Lena, this could work. We should try. I like you. You like me. Let's try."

"Let's not," Lena replied.

"Why not?" Kara asked, her face falling. "What part of this doesn't work?"

"It's…it's me, Kara. It isn't you; it's me."

"Well I may not know a lot about relationships, but I know enough to know that means it's me. What's wrong with me that you don't like? Lena, we're best friends. What's changed that…?" Slowly standing, Kara let go of Lena's hand and asked, "Is this because I'm not human?"

"That's an oversimplification of a very complex situation."

"And that's not a no," Kara replied. "I've defended you to everyone I know every time they've said anything about you just because of your last name. I've said not to judge you by the actions of other Luthors. You're not a Luthor. You're Lena. You said we were family, you and me. That isn't about blood. That isn't about where we were born. That's about love Lena. What changed?"

"Kara I…" Lena licked her lips, blinking rapidly. "Kara, you and I are fine. I just need some distance from other parts of you. What was wrong with what we had?"

"So just keep being friends exactly like we were and forget I ever told you anything else about me?"

"Please?"

Closing her eyes, Kara took a deep breath before opening them again. "I can take not being the one you want. I can understand you not being attracted to me. I'm still trying to figure out who I want and who I am. If that's what this was, I could get that. If this was too sudden and you just needed time, I could get that. I could give you all the time you needed. I'm patient. This though, Lena, you're asking me to carve off a part of myself and hide it away again. I don't think you realize how hard it was for me to come out to you like this. I was so scared I was going to lose you."

"You're not," Lena assured her.

"Yes, I am. That's exactly what's happening because when you finally saw all of me, you rejected me. Lena, that's not how love works."

Suddenly Kara was gone from Lena's sight. When she heard the sound of the window opening, she turned to see the blonde pulling it open. "Kara, wait, please. This is becoming a mess. I can explain this better."

"No," Kara said, looking over her shoulder. "I don't love you despite. I love you because. I only wish you felt the same way."

Between blinks, Kara was gone, and Lena found herself staring at an empty window. The feeling in her heart was just as hollow.


	19. 19-The Heart Wants What the Heart Wants

As the door closed, Lena looked to her right. It was Alex Danvers. She let out a long sigh and put her tablet on the table to her right. The good news was she was already mostly flat out in a hospital bed. Well, at any rate, this would be a rather efficient beat down on both of their parts.

"Agent Danvers."

"Luthor," Alex replied.

Lena sighed again. Not only did she not get called by her first name, which she thought she had gotten a few days ago, but she also didn't even get a Miss Luthor. Reaching to her left, she made sure she could get her hand on the emergency call button. Lena Luthor had met several types of people in her relatively short time on this planet. There were bluffers, negotiators, motivators, intimidators, idealists, pragmatists, catalysts, doers, and the word agent held its own special meaning. Alex Danvers was a woman who made threats but not empty ones.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of your presence this evening?" Lena asked, keeping the call button in her hand. When Alex locked the door, Lena managed not to push the button, though she did feel her hand twitch.

Pulling up a chair and sitting next to the bed, Alex asked, "How are you feeling?"

"With a bit more of my body than before," Lena replied, trying to remind the agent that she was injured and how it had happened.

"That's good," Alex replied with a single nod. "My sister believes you'll walk again. Is that true?"

"My understanding is that is what your sister believes." Perhaps not Lena's wisest answer, but this had put her on full negotiating defensiveness. She didn't think she could give anything away.

Alex nodded, eyes steady as she clearly caught the avoidance. "So, I have some questions I'd like to ask you. You feel up to answering them?"

"Is this a personal or a professional visit, Agent Danvers?"

"In this case both," Alex admitted.

Lena fretted at her bottom lip ever so slightly with her teeth. Kara's sister was here, and she was about to be spoken to. Fabulous. She supposed she could have handled things better with Kara somehow…maybe…probably. This was all such a mess.

Lena sighed. "Well, let's just get this out in the open, shall we? You say what you have to say."

Alex nodded. "Kara was here earlier, and she spoke with you."

"She did."

"She made you aware of certain…facts in her life."

Lena lifted one brow, not responding.

In return, Alex held the other woman's gaze.

After probably three minutes of the two of them staring silently, Alex asked, "Are you going to say anything?"

"I'm in bed. I can sleep here. You'll leave before I do," Lena replied.

"The home court advantage," Alex said, leaning forward slightly. "You do this a lot when you negotiate?"

"Agent, I didn't invite you here. You came of your own accord. I understand why. Well, I suppose I understand why, but I don't have a younger sibling. I was the younger sibling. There was a time when my brother would have looked over me as you're doing for Kara. I envy that relationship that you both still have. I truly do. You have a need to intimidate someone, and I am that person. Message received."

Rubbing at her temple, Alex closed her eyes while she spoke. "Lena, I wanted to trust you. I told Kara I thought she could trust you."

"Um…thank you?"

Eyes opening, Alex met Lena's gaze again. "You've been lying to her though, haven't you?"

"Excuse me?"

"Your medical records show certain impossibilities, and Kara doesn't understand that—"

"Wait, wait." Lena held her free hand up toward Alex. "What do you mean my medical records? You've seen my medical records?"

Alex sighed. "Nerves don't grow back."

Lena inhaled sharply. "Aiteann," she hissed out. "You looked at my medical records? How the **feck** did you get my medical records!?"

"That's not the point."

"Oh, it is the point! Did you have a court order!? Did you have probably cause!? Did you…!?" Lena closed her eyes, taking several cleansing breaths as she willed herself to be calm. Losing her temper, though it might be momentarily satisfying, wouldn't prove fruitful. She wasn't a rash person. She'd spent a good portion of her life under the eye of a woman who showed her that what she felt was never as important as what she showed. Though it might not have been true, it was the life lesson she learned. She went back there whenever things got ugly, and this moment felt gruesome. Opening her eyes, Lena's face was neutral once again. "Agent Danvers, I'm going to assume that you had no court order when you obtained the medical records of a private citizen."

Mouth open, Alex didn't respond.

"Yes, that's what I thought," Lena said. "That's unfortunate for you…Agent. Is that normally how the FBI does their investigations?"

"…no," Alex admitted. "But my sister—"

"You could have spoken to me." Lena's face shifted, eyes slightly downcast and the corns of her mouth drooping. "Alex, I know you and I are nothing to each other, but for Kara's sake, you could have spoken to me. You may not like me. You may not trust me with the other 7.3 billion lives on this planet, but trust this; Kara Danvers has nothing to fear from me. Can you believe that?"

Alex exhaled, sinking into her chair. Her agent persona fell off of her to reveal the overprotective sister that sat below the blazer and sidearm. "I want to, Lena. I want you to be the person Kara sees. I want you to be the person Kara cares for so very much. Do you know how much I want you to be that person?"

With a small laugh, Lena replied, "Of course I do. I want to be that person too. She has that effect on you, doesn't she? There's a light to her. At first, I just felt like she showed all of the shadows in me, the dark places. We were so different. I envied her, but I felt like she was something I could only see from afar and certainly never touch. The more she came around, the brighter that light grew. She shone that light into me, touching inky corners in me that had never seen the light of day before. Every day I grew a little lighter, a little braver, because of her. What we had was perfect. I wish it hadn't changed. I wish we hadn't had to acknowledge…well you know."

"Who she really is," Alex said.

"Oh no. She's really Kara. There's no denying that. She is a unique individual. It's everything that comes with it that I wish we could just ignore."

"You don't sound surprised. You sound like you already…is there a reason we're not using the name? I just realized we're not using the name."

Lena gave a small smile and a shrug.

"Lena, if you knew about…" Alex shrugged. "Why are you in this bed? What's going on?"

"I didn't know, not with certainty. I could have, but I didn't want to. You sister is horrible at keeping secrets. The first time she met me she told me she flew there on a bus. She's adorably awkward but hardly covert. I suppose that's why you're the agent in the family. No, all of it was there for me to put it together, and I walked away from the information. Kara was my friend. That was all I wanted. I mean I knew of course, but in the way you know when someone is cheating on you, but you haven't caught them yet. When they smell of another woman's perfume; they work late but don't seem to have new clients; they go on business trips where they forget their portfolio but remember their swimsuit. It was that level of knowledge. I knew, but I didn't know. Does that even make sense?"

"You went out of your way not to prove it to yourself?"

"Well I certainly could have should that have been the goal. No, Kara was my safe friend, and there was no reason I couldn't have her in my life. I liked that. Then, when I saw someone pointing a gun at her back, well in retrospect it would have been nice to have confirmed all of this. It would have saved me a lot of pain and trouble. At the time though…we don't take chances with our friends' lives."

Alex nodded, letting all of that sink in. "So even though you were fairly certain, you stepped in front of a gun for her."

"She's Kara," Lena replied immediately, something crossing her face besides the usual professional screen she wore. "What would you have done?"

"Well, she's my sister. I love her. I'd do anything for her, but that's hardly…" Alex stared into Lena Luthors eyes and suddenly didn't doubt how the other woman felt for her sister. This was a different look, a different conversation. There was the face that Lena Luthor showed the world, and Alex had looked at that many times, and then there was Lena. Kara had spoken about her friend ad nauseam, but this was the first time Alex had ever seen her. Mind going back to the call she'd made, and what she'd interrupted before, Alex asked, "Where's Kara?"

"She left I'm afraid."

"Left? Why?"

Lena sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose with her free hand. "We had a discussion that went a bit sideways and…didn't you speak with her?"

"No, not since she came here to talk to you."

"Oh. I thought you came over here because…"

When Lena stopped talking, Alex waited, but nothing else was offered. "You're playing the home court advantage again, aren't you?"

"Indeed."

"Is my sister okay?"

"She was upset when she left," Lena admitted, gesturing toward the open window with her head.

Walking around to the window, Alex looked out of it briefly before closing it. "In her street clothes?"

"From what I saw, though that wasn't much."

"Jesus." Walking around the bed again, Alex asked, "Feel like talking about it?"

"Let's just say you take her side and you're perturbed with me. It will save us both some time," Lena replied.

"She'll…she'll be okay. You two will be okay. Just give her time, Lena. When I first told Maggie how I felt, she said she wasn't interested. That hurt like hell. She wanted to be friends, but I needed time. I needed lots of time. Kara has the biggest heart. I bet within a week she's here eating donuts and showing you pictures of puppies she saw in the park."

"I'm sure you're right," Lena said with a smile that didn't touch her eyes.

Sitting again, Alex said, "Look, I apologize for before. I shouldn't have gone around you if I had questions. I was worried about you though. Then I was worried about Kara. The worst part is I pretty much did exactly what I told her not to do, so lousy big sister moment. I do still have questions though. Lena, I'd really like to know—"

"Open that drawer please," Lena said, pointing to the drawer next to her bed.

"What…?" Opening the drawer, Alex asked. "What do you need?"

"My cellphone please? Your sister tossed it in there before when we were talking. It was ringing, and she didn't want the interruption."

Phone in hand, Alex paused, then held it out to Lena.

Lena unlocked the phone, then stared at the missed calls. Lifting her head, she said, "These are from Kara."

"That was me," Alex admitted. "She left her phone in my apartment and I…um…"

"You were trying to interrupt our conversation?"

Alex nodded.

"Hmmm. Well, I wish you had. For once we were in agreement."

"Look, about your medical records—" As the door opened behind her, Alex stopped talking and turned.

"What do you need, Miss Luthor?" Jake said as he stood pulling the keys out of the door.

"Jake," Lena said smiling, holding the emergency buzzer up slightly in her left hand. "Agent Danvers here was just leaving. Would you be kind enough to escort her out? Also, please update the system. I won't be taking any more visitors for the foreseeable future."

Jake nodded. "I'll make sure it's just your girlfriend."

"No Jake, I mean no one," Lena replied. "The only ones who may enter are the private medical staff that I've hired. Are there any questions about that?"

After a three second pause, Jake replied, "No questions, Miss Luthor. Agent Danvers, please follow me."

"Lena, don't do this to Kara. Just because you're upset with me, don't do this to Kara," Alex pleaded as she stood.

"My rights have been trodden over too often. I'd suggest you speak with your sister. There have been too many entitlements in this little family of yours. I'm setting new boundaries. You can take those up with my lawyers. Now, Jake will see you out."

At the word 'lawyers' Alex took a step back. She tugged her arm loose from Jake's grip and left the room, making her way to the staircase. Alex suddenly had a lot of energy and wanted to burn it off. She took stairs two at a time for the first three levels then slowing to one at a time but still running, as she got further down. She'd forgotten who she was dealing with when she'd stepped into Luthor territory. It was coming back to bite her.

As Alex left, Lena went into her contacts. Her finger hovered over a name for several seconds before she backed out, going to a different one and hitting dial. On the third ring, there was an answer.

Smiling, Lena replied, "I'm doing well Oksana. I had intended to call and thank you, though not quite yet. I thought perhaps when I was up for traveling we could have dinner and discuss business." Still smiling, Lena nodded. "Excellent, again, not the reason for my call. I've run into a small situation here. It's nothing major really. The FBI are snooping around. They're being a bit ham-fisted, and I'd like to deal with it before Patricia gets wind of things and decides to deal with them in her heavy-handed way. I don't know how a person can have such a light surgical touch and such heavy political dealings." Lena nodded a bit more, the smile moving around on her mouth as it tugged at the corners. "Thank you, Oksana. I promise you that if I sense this isn't immediately dealt with, I'll let you know. I appreciate your faith in me. I won't take any more of your—" Slowly Lena's expression changed to one of confusion. "Paperwork…relationship? Oh, well, I don't know that it will be an issue, Oksana. Kara and I, that really isn't a thing that…I mean it…we just had quite a blowout. I think it's over." Lena paused. "Why are you laughing?" Lena listened for a moment then said, "I'm not young and overreacting. It was a bad breakup." Rolling her eyes, Lena said, "Fine, send me the form. I doubt I'll have use of it though. Have a lovely day."

Hanging up, Lena gave herself a few moments to be annoyed. Oksana wasn't that old, but she played that whole Slavic wise woman thing up. Okay, so she was wise. She still wasn't that old.

When Lena had finally calmed herself to her normal placid self, she placed the first of two calls. It was to a group of cyber specialists. She explained that she'd been broken into twice since her shooting. Once her power of attorney had been altered. The second time her medical records had been taken. She needed to know who had done it. She gave them the contact information for the lawyers to whom the collected data should be sent once they had it. The second call was to the lawyers. She let them know what was going on, who was going to be in touch with them, and why. She then gave them the number of the police officer they should call once they had their findings.

Hanging up, Lena reached over to the tablet on her desk again, but her hand stopped. She thought things through, the fallout of this. Everything she'd said to Alex was true. Before Kara, there were so many dark spots in her life. She couldn't say she wasn't aware of them. They were just ugly truths about being raised a Luthor. She was born with pale skin, dark hair, and parts of her that she believed no one would ever love, especially herself, because they were entirely unlovable. Then Kara came along, and she felt loved in a way she had only felt loved by her child. She felt seen but not judged. She wasn't suddenly 'not good enough' no matter what she did. Now just being her was good enough. She wished things hadn't changed with her and Kara, but now it was up to her to decide where that change led them.

Going into her contacts again, she made another call which was also answered quickly. "Hello, Kalia. I'm sorry to call you off hours, but I need assistance." Lena chuckled. "No, but if I ever need such a task done, I'll know who to call. Actually, it's Kara. She and her family have become…well, they've overstepped, and I'll need to move them back. I'm afraid I need to make a bit of a show of it. I've locked out anyone but private medical staff from the room, and I've started legal proceedings against—" After several moments of trying to speak but not being able to get a word in edgewise, Lena finally said, "That won't be necessary. Just come in at your regular shift but…Kalia? Kalia, are you there?" She sighed, looking at her phone and then putting it on her torso as she picked up her tablet. "Lovely. Well, I might as well get some work done before she shows up. It would have been nice if I'd gotten my ass handed to me before I could feel it again."

It was hours later when Kara climbed through the window into her apartment. She'd stopped a couple of muggings, helped someone change a tire, and finally ended up sitting around in the polar bear exhibit in the zoo for a while. That was a good place where no person would come and bother her when she wanted to think. Eventually, when she didn't feel any better, she decided it was time to go home and drown her sorrows in ice cream and Netflix. Those two friends hadn't steered her wrong so far.

Opening the window, Kara immediately became aware of the heartbeat in her apartment. "Hello?"

Sitting up from where she'd been dozing on the couch, Alex turned on the lamp and said, "Kara."

"Oh, Alex." Climbing inside, Kara's concern immediately shifted to her sister. "Is everything all right? Is Maggie okay? Are you and Maggie okay?"

Nodding while she waved her sister closer, Alex replied, "I just needed to talk to you. Here." She put Kara's cellphone down on the table. "You left this at my place."

"Oh. I didn't even realize."

"Yeah. So…" Alex blew out a long, slow breath. "Honey, come sit down. We need to talk."

"What's wrong?" Kara said sitting, then immediately jumping to her feet. "Rao on high! Is it Lena!? Is she—!?"

"She's fine! She's fine," Alex said, taking her sister's hand and coaxing the blonde off of the proverbial edge again. "Just sit. When I left her, she was perfectly fine."

"Left her? You saw Lena?" Kara asked as she sat.

"Yeah I…I'm sorry Kara. I screwed up."

As her stomach did flip-flops, Kara swallowed hard. When she flew out of Lena's room, things were already such a mess. Lena had told her that knowing Kara was Supergirl was a mistake. The kiss they'd shared, which meant something to Kara, was only something Lena did to hide Kara from prying eyes. Kara had revealed her identity and her feelings to Lena, and Lena wanted neither of them. How had things gotten worse?

"I…I pulled Lena's medical records."

"What does that mean?" Kara asked.

"The neurogenic shock, the way she came out of it, that wasn't right. I wasn't trying to check up on Lena. I was trying to check up on her doctor. I was worried about her. Then when I saw her records—"

"I don't want to know," Kara said standing again.

"Kara, I just want to explain—"

"No!" Kara waved her arms in front of her. "I already made a mess of things tonight with Lena. I don't need to screw anything else up. She made it clear what she wants from me, and that's my friendship." Kara laughed without humor. "I suppose she doesn't really want that even. She doesn't really want me."

"What does that mean?"

Kara opened and closed her eyes several times, unable to say the words before she finally was able to admit, "It's because I'm an alien. She doesn't want to be with an alien."

Lips pursed and eyes narrowed, Alex asked, "She told you that?"

"Not in so many words, but basically, yes. She wants to pretend she doesn't know I'm Supergirl. She admitted she wasn't straight, that she was attracted to me, but said she wanted to go back to the way we used to be. She wants to pretend she doesn't know the truth. It's because I'm not human. She didn't want to be…close with an alien."

Alex's face darkened at that idea, anger immediately rising in her chest as she wanted to defend her sister, but something else was there too. There was the conversation she'd just had with Lena. There was the fact that Lena had known but chosen to not know at the same time. There was the fact Lena had cared enough, while knowing in a way, to step in front of the shooter. There was that look that had crossed Lena's face that was raw emotion. It was something Alex knew well because she felt it for her sister. Alex added up all the parts, and the math didn't work.

"Kara, that doesn't make sense. Okay, when I saw Lena she was avoiding using the word Supergirl, and that was weird. She never had a problem with Supergirl though, right?"

"She never seemed to. She'd even send me messages, ask to see me. We'd talk, laugh, she'd hug me. I never got a sense of xenophobia out of her. Alex, this hit me out of the blue. I mean, this happens to gay people too, right? They have family members who are okay with the concept of people being gay, okay with knowing gay people, but as soon as it's in the family, it feels like some kind of judgment call on them. Is this what this is all about?"

Alex shrugged. "I'm not the subject matter expert here. I'd love to say you can come to me about all things gay, but you can't. The internet is probably a better resource than me. Kara, maybe Lena just needs time. Was she angry that you hadn't told her before?"

Kara shrugged. "She didn't seem to be. She was just like, 'Go back in the Superhero closet. I want Kara Danvers and Supergirl to be two different people.' Oh, and she was acting all weird about me saying the word Supergirl and about mentioning that I had powers. Jake walked in when I had my glasses off, and Lena kissed me so that he wouldn't see my face. I…" Kara closed her eyes, groaning slightly. "I totally misconstrued why she was kissing me, and it was pretty obvious what I was feeling. Then she told me that she cared for me. Ugh! That hurt worse than a Kryptonite knife. She also told me…Alex, this was the worst part…She told me 'it's not you, it's me.'"

"Oh, no she didn't!"

"Oh, yes she did. That totally means it's me. Even I know that means it's me, and I'm the worst at relationships. I'm even worse than you before Maggie."

"And that's saying something," Alex agreed. "So, if you never saw her again you'd be happy?"

"No!" Kara dropped down to the couch again. "I'm still crazy about her. My heart hurts so much. If she didn't have feelings for me, wasn't attracted to me, didn't like girls, all of that would make sense to me. I could be Lena's friend even feeling this way. I'd need time, but I'd want to have lunches and hear her talk about budgets, boring meetings, and watch her eyes light up when she talked about scientific discovery. That's where her heart is, in the future. She isn't tied to this world today. Maybe that's why I feel so much for her because I'm not from this world either. Maybe the problem is, we're not from the same world. I'm from a world that's long gone, and she's from a world that hasn't been discovered yet. Maybe there isn't room in her world for me."

"Do you believe that?"

"I didn't yesterday. The room I have for Lena is in my heart, and I thought she made the same kind of space for me. I spent the first twelve years on this planet pretending I wasn't who I was, hiding part of myself from the world, from me, just to try and fit in. Listening to her today, I think she only has enough room for Kara. That's just a part of me. Lena's my best friend, and I always thought the more Lena knew me, the more she'd like me and want me in her life. Today, I don't know what I believe."

"Kara, you can't want someone who doesn't want all of you," Alex reminded her sister.

"Then why do I still want her?" Kara asked through watery eyes.

"Oh sweetie." Wrapping an arm around Kara's shoulder, Alex said, "Because the heart wants what the heart wants. Love doesn't make sense."

"What Lena said doesn't make sense," Kara replied.

"Oh, I agree. Bigotry never does."

"No." Kara pushed away from her sister so she could look at her. "Lena's not a bigot. She was always so vocal about being against everything Lex did. She took it as a personal affront. She felt like she had a responsibility to stand for everything Lex wasn't. Even when she looked at producing those alien detectors, she sat down with me, and we talked about them. She decided not to make them available to the public. She worried about violating the rights of aliens because she agreed they were people who deserved to have their rights protected. This…none of this makes sense. I've got to go talk to her again. I'm missing something," Kara said as she stood up.

"Kara, you can't."

"I'll be fine, Alex. I know I'm emotional, and it's late really late. If she's asleep, I'll just sleep in the chair until she wakes up."

Hurrying after her sister, Alex got to the window before Kara could leave. "Kara, no. She's not taking visitors."

"Oh, well that's okay. It's just…why are you shaking your head?"

"No, sweetie. That's what I came to tell you. When I told Lena I'd pulled her medical records, she got really upset. She kicked me out of her room. She called in that guy, Jake, and told him she wasn't having any more visitors. Sweetie, she included you in that. She said something about her lawyers too."

"She…I can't go see her?"

Alex shook her head. "She said her rights had been trodden on."

Kara turned, sitting on the window sill. "I don't understand, Alex."

"It's my fault, Kara. It's because of what I did."

"I can't go see her?"

"I'm sorry."

Kara considered that for a moment, then grabbed her phone. "Then I'll call her."

"It's after midnight, Kara."

"I'll leave her a voicemail. She can call me back tomorrow," Kara explained while she dialed. As Lena's voicemail answered, the blonde couldn't help but smile.

 _"You've reached the voicemail of Lena Luthor. I'm not currently available, but your call is important to me. Please leave your name and contact information, and I'll respond to your message at my earliest convenience."_

"At my earliest convenience," Kara quipped with a little smile.

Just then, then the voice mail said, _"Beep."_

"Lena, it's Kara. So, Alex just told me you changed things so no one can visit you. She said that means me too. I figure maybe you just need to work through stuff right now. Maybe you just need space. I can give you space. Sometimes I need space. Sometimes I need a lot of space, and I go places with lots of space, and…um…well then I feel better. So I want to give you space if you need space. This is me giving you space. I'm not coming over, okay? I want to. I'd be there right now if you didn't need space. So if you don't need space, you just have to let me know that you don't need space, and then I'll be there. It doesn't have to be anything just someone who—"

 _"Beep."_

Kara looked over at her sister. "I ran out of space. I'm going to call back."

Alex sighed but said nothing.

This time Lena's voicemail played and beeped, and then Kara said, "Hi! It's me again, Kara. I got cut off before. So, space, giving you space. I'm going to give you space if you want it, but if you don't just call me, okay? I mean, you can call me even if you want space. You know my number." Kara laughed a little. "Of course you know my number. You could just hit redial, right? Plus you know my number. Like, duh. So I won't be by tomorrow, but it isn't because I don't want to be by. I do, Lena. I just wish…I feel like something doesn't make sense. I wish we could talk so you could explain it to me. If you want to talk you can…right, call me. I don't like the way we left things. I know I'm the one who left, but I was really upset, and now Alex said—"

 _"Beep."_

"Damn it! I swear she has the shortest voicemail."

Putting her hand over her sister's, Alex asked, "Are you going to call her again?"

"One more time," Kara said, holding up a single finger.

"Maybe you should figure out what you want to say before you call. You're rambling a little bit sweetie."

Staring at the phone in her hands, Kara admitted, "Sometimes that happens around Lena. I guess it even happens around her voicemail."

Alex nodded. "I'm sorry, Kara. The way you feel about her, it's…just take a minute to collect your thoughts."

Kara did, and when she called back, she said, "Lena, this is Kara. This is the last time I'm calling. When you want to talk, please call me. I think there's something that you're not telling me. Some of the things you said, that wasn't you. I'm not going to believe they were. I know you. I know all of you, and I meant what I said. We love because not despite." Kara paused, she had so much more to say, but she'd have to wait for an opportunity to say it. "Bye." She disconnected the call.

Several minutes later, in a hospital room across town, Lena Luthor woke with a start when a rolled up newspaper hit her arm.

"What!?"

"You've got voicemails," Kalia explained. "I think they've finally stopped."

"Hmmm?"

"Your phone, it rang three times and went to voicemail, but it hasn't done it for a few minutes, so I think it's done."

"You woke me to tell me someone left me messages?" Lena asked.

"Yup. You're welcome," Kalia replied, handing over the cellphone. "Go ahead and listen to them."

Looking at the phone through bleary eyes, Lena said, "It's after two o'clock in the morning. Why in the world…yawn…would you wake me? I'm sick."

"You're not sick. You're too tough to get sick. You're injured."

"I get sick. I just don't have time to get sick," Lena countered. "I had chicken pox as a child and a rather nasty case of strep throat once. Then once…" As she drifted off to sleep again, she awoke with a start as the newspaper hit her arm again. "Good Lord! You have the most abysmal bedside manner. Why did I ever hire you?"

"It's a mystery to me. Listen to your voicemails."

"In the morning."

"Now. Someone cares enough to call you in the middle of the night. You should care enough to listen," Kalia said.

"Kalia—"

"Just listen to her, Lena. What harm is it going to do to listen to her?"

"It won't do any good either," Lena protested.

Arms crossed, Kalia asked, "Are you trying to protect her from your family or your work?"

"Stop prying into my private life."

"I've known you far too long for that to work with me. I know when you're scared, and whatever's going on with Kara scares you. You know you can trust me; you can talk to me about it." When Lena only stared tight-lipped, Kalia asked, "Are you going to listen to your voicemails?"

"Perhaps."

"Well then perhaps I'll go take a pee break. I'll be gone for ten minutes or so, maybe fifteen."

Lena shrugged.

"Yeah, fifteen. I've got my newspaper." Kalia headed over to the door. "Push the buzzer if you need me, and I'll be right back."

When Kalia was gone, Lena unlocked her phone listening to voicemail after voicemail from Kara. The first two were very Kara, stumbling and nearly incoherent in a sweet and adorable way. When the third came, something had changed. Kara was calmer, more measured and Lena actually found several parts of this voicemail concerning. When it ended she played it one more time, her eyes filling with tears that refused to stay in place and instead spilled down her cheeks. They started at the words 'This is the last time I'm calling.' And were running freely at the utter truth of, 'We love because not despite.'


	20. 20-You Called Her Grandma Lillian

As Kara walked into the waiting room of Smythe, Matterson, Abadi, and Abadi, she paused seeing her sister and Winn sitting in chairs. Alex sat stiffly as if prepared for an interrogation and perhaps she was. Winn was slumped, leaning to one side, his cheek against his hand. He looked defeated.

Kara took a seat next to her sister and whispered, "Alex, what's going on?"

"Your girlfriend," Alex grumbled.

Kara sighed. "I wish."

"Hey." Alex elbowed her, shaking her head. "You haven't spoken to Lena have you?"

Kara returned the head shake. "I left her those voicemails but didn't hear anything back. I figured she needed space, so I was giving her space. In time, I thought she'd call me. Since she came to National City, we've always been in each other's lives. I can't believe she hasn't at least texted me. Then I got this today." Kara held up the letter in her hand.

Alex did the same, elbowing Winn who held up a letter but made no other movement.

"What does yours say?" Kara asked.

"The same as yours I'd imagine," Alex replied. "It's from these guys, Lena's lawyers but not L-Corp lawyers which is interesting. They asked me to come down here regarding an investigation into some medical records of hers that had been tampered with. They asked that I voluntarily come down here today at 10:00 AM to answer some question in the hopes of stemming a formal investigation."

Kara nodded. "Mine was pretty much the same, but it mentioned Lena's power of attorney, not her medical records."

"Mine mentioned both," Winn said, still not moving. "You think they'll give me a cell next to my dad, like a family suite?"

"Relax," Alex said, eyes straight ahead. "No one's going to jail. We're not without our own clout. Don't say anything. Don't admit to anything. We're going to walk away from this." Alex inhaled deeply, then let the air out. "Then J'onn's going to have our asses."

Winn had been looking encouraged, but he slumped even deeper into his seat. "Oh, that's much worse. Can't I just go to jail please?"

"He can get you even in jail," Alex reminded him.

"Miss Danvers?" The woman at the front desk asked.

Both Kara and Alex looked over at her.

"Miss Kara Danvers?" She clarified. Kara began to stand, but she put out a hand, encouraging Kara to sit again, then lifted her phone. After a moment she said, "They're all here. Yes, Sir." Hanging up, she stood and said, "Follow me please?"

The office was large, an oversized desk that screamed 'overcompensating' with a chair that nodded in agreement. On the opposite side were two smaller chairs, obviously created for the objects of intimidation. There was a bar along the short wall, a long serious of wall-to-wall windows where the long wall would be, and a table the length of the long wall. It was covered with documents. Two people stood in the room, one a middle-aged man wearing a suit that cost more than the combined monthly rent of the three newcomers. The second a familiar face.

"Maggie?" Alex asked.

"Hey, Danvers," Maggie said, her usual smile long since gone as she nodded to her girlfriend.

"Why is she here?" Alex asked the man in the room. "She has no part of this. She has no fucking part in this!"

"Hey, hey!" Maggie was across the room, grabbing Alex by the arm and squeezing, her body between that and the target for her upset. "That's not why I'm here. I'm on the job."

"On the job?" Alex shook her head. "What does that mean?"

"I'm here in an official capacity. I'm here as a member of the NCPD."

"As a cop?" Alex's voice was full of uncertainty, having no idea what that could mean, and then it struck her why a cop could be here. She spun on Kara, her words coming out between gritted teeth. "You need to fucking talk to Lena. She fucking brought my fucking girlfriend into the fucking middle of this. That's not fucking cool, Kara. I don't care how you do it, but fucking talk to her." Alex was poking Kara hard in the shoulder with each expletive, but it did nothing to her sister. All it managed to do was jam Alex's knuckle which she ended up shaking and pulling on to try and dislodge the pain.

"Alex, chill out!" Maggie cajoled, turning the redhead to face her again. "This is a good thing. Well, this is a shit show, but in a shit show, I'm the cop you want with a ticket. You don't want anyone else here. So far, I'm the only one from the department who has seen all of this." Maggie's arm spread across the table. "I think that's the point."

A deep frown sculpted into her face, Alex replied, "You still shouldn't be involved."

"You're here. I'm involved."

Alex nodded, resisting the urge to hug Maggie but giving herself a raincheck. If they walked out of this bruised but not beaten, she'd cash it in immediately.

"Please, have a seat," the man in the room said.

"We'll stand," Alex said, stopping Winn whose hand was on the back of a chair.

"Very good, Agent Danvers. My name is Mr. Abadi."

"Senior of Junior?" Alex asked.

"The third," Mr. Abadi replied. "However, we're not here to talk about me. We're here to talk about certain violations against Miss Luthor's privacy. Miss Luthor has retained the services of a rather prestigious firm which specializes in cyber security and cyber-attack forensics."

"What's the name of the group?" Winn asked.

"The White Hat Agency," Mr. Abadi replied.

"Wh…Wh…White Hat Agency?" Winn stammered out.

"How bad is that?" Alex asked.

Winn swallowed audibly. "Well, if The Justice League were a cyber security team, they'd be the White Hat Agency."

Alex spun on Kara again.

"What!?" Kara asked.

"You need to fix this with her."

"How? She's not talking to me. I'm not allowed to see her. There's nothing I can do. If she won't talk to me, there's nothing I can do," Kara protested.

"What about…" Alex looked over at Mr. Abadi, then pulled her sister to the far side of the room, whispering, "What about Lori?"

Eyes wide, Kara shook her head.

Alex continued to whisper harshly, "Kara, I'm serious here. If Lena is going to throw her money at this and get lawyers who are 'the third' on our asses, we need leverage. If this—"

Kara's hand clamped down over her sister's mouth, head shaking. "Not an option."

"Mmmph Mmm Mph," Alex said.

"What?" Kara asked, suddenly pulling her hand back when Alex's tongue licked at her. "Eww! Gross Alex."

"Keep your hand to yourself," Alex said, pointing at her sister. "Fine. No…you know who for now. If it's this person or me, it's going to be me, Kara. You hear me?"

"It won't be a problem," Kara assured her sister. "Lena is just drawing a line in the sand. We crossed it. She's showing us where it is and telling us to step back. Nothing will happen."

"You better be right," Alex said walking back to the table, her little sister trailing behind her. "So, you were saying, Mr. Abadi?"

"They say a picture is worth a thousand words. We don't have pictures, but perhaps you would all like to look at the documents we've gathered," he gestured at the table, watching while Alex, Kara, and Winn, slowly approached. "It seems that someone has been altering legal documents and pulling personal health records belonging to Ms. Luthor. It's all extremely alarming. Don't you all agree?"

The trio looked at each other, and then Alex answered for them. "Extremely. So, we're here to…? Why are we here, Mr. Abadi?"

"Well, after The White Hat Agency had gathered all of the information, they were very close to putting together exactly who was behind all of this. Honestly, probably another day and they would have brought the culprits to bear. However, Miss Luthor had another idea."

"Does it involve the NCPD?" Alex asked, pointing toward Maggie with her chin.

"No, not quite yet. We have asked Detective Sawyer to look over the material and familiarize herself with all of this. We wanted to make sure the NCPD had no similar cases. She is science division, not technology, but still, Miss Luthor was adamant that Detective Sawyer was the right officer for the job. No, at this time we just wanted to bring the detective up to speed on our findings and ask that she work with the person to whom Miss Luthor has asked all of this material is being turned over," Mr. Abadi explained.

"If that isn't Maggie, then who is it?" Kara asked nervously.

"Miss Luthor has requested a highly trained, highly technical member of the intelligence community," Mr. Abadi explained. "Mr. Winslow Schott."

"Oh! That's me!" Winn said. "Wait, that's me. She asked for me?"

"In writing," Mr. Abadi replied.

"So, I'm supposed to…what am I supposed to do?" Winn asked.

"Miss Luthor has asked that you take all of the information on her case that has been gathered to date and continue the investigation. Will the FBI have any problem with that?" The lawyer asked.

"None," Alex replied, gathering up papers off the table. "Do you have any electronic copies of this that you need to send us?"

"Certainly," Mr. Adabi replied.

Alex pulled out a business card, handing it over. "You can send it directly to my attention. I'm Mr. Schott's superior."

"Thank you, Agent Danvers."

"What are we doing?" Winn asked as Alex went back to gathering paperwork.

"Pick stuff up, Winn."

"Yeah, but I don't—"

"Pick stuff up!" Alex snapped.

Without question, Winn began to grab papers off the table. When the lawyer held out a file folder, Kara took it with a gentle smile. Within a few minutes, Alex, Kara, Winn, and Maggie were all outside the lawyer's office, all breathing a bit easier.

"What exactly happened in there?" Winn asked. "I feel like I just got threatened, but lucky, but confused."

"Take all of this and burn it," Alex said, slapping the folder into Winn's chest. "Lena just told us she had us by the short hairs. Then she let us go. I don't think she'll let us go again, though. That was a warning shot. Now, children, we run instead of walking away."

"Right, discretion is the better part of valor," Maggie agreed.

"Were you there because they thought you were involved?" Alex asked Maggie.

"No clue. They may have wanted a cop there if they could have one and they knew I wasn't going to do anything with all of that. I'm not white collar. I wouldn't know how to start an investigation with that crap even if I wanted to make your lives miserable."

"I've got to get back to work," Kara said dejectedly.

"Hey, Kara," Alex said taking a few hurried steps after her sister. "I'm sorry about all of this."

"Me too. I started all of this. I know you were trying to help me, Alex. I know you were trying to help Lena."

"Yeah, but I made it much worse," Alex admitted. "Wait for her to calm down from the sting of this. You and Lena are best friends. You'll get through this. Who knows what you'll end up being."

"I…I just need to go back to work, Alex. I can't think about this right now, or I won't make it through the day."

"Okay, sorry Kara. Call me later?"

"Maybe. Bye."

Alex watched her sister walk away, then wandered back to Maggie and Winn. "Poor kid."

"She going to be okay?" Maggie asked.

"She'll get there. Lena needs time. They need time. It's just…you know," Alex said with a shrug.

"Hey, ladies." Winn walked away a little bit, signaling for the two women to follow him. "Will you two ladies please join me in my van?"

"Does that line ever work?" Alex asked skeptically.

"More often than you'd think," Winn replied with a grin.

"So once," Maggie stated.

"Once exactly," Winn said with a snap. He opened up the back of the van, waiting for Alex and Maggie to file in before climbing in and closing it behind them. "So, I realize we all just barely escaped from some scary Luthor lawyers, however…" Winn pulled out a manila envelope he had in the van. "I got this before I knew we were being lawyer stalked."

"What is it?" Maggie asked.

"Whoa!" Alex held up her hands. "Is that Lena stuff?"

"Yeah."

"Set it on fire. Kill it with fire," Alex said, pointing at the envelope.

"Well, it's only sort of Lena stuff. It's more stuff on her doctor. It isn't legal document stuff of Lena's," Winn clarified.

"What does that mean exactly?" Alex asked.

"It's pictures. It's pictures from the past…they go back eight years. Lena's in them," Winn said.

Arms crossed and staring down at Winn, Alex asked, "If it's pictures of Lena, how is it not Lena stuff?"

"Because I wasn't doing a search for Lena. I was doing a search for her doctor. The name got me nowhere, but you said to keep digging, so I did a visual search for photographs. When I tripped on one eight years ago at MIT, I knew we had a winner. She was working with a group of young engineering students on designing a mechanical heart. Want to see the photo?"

Alex's jaw tensed.

"Hey," Maggie said, a hand on her girlfriend's arm. "Seeing or not seeing the photo, it doesn't make the lawyers any less likely to catch us. It was Winn getting the info that will get us caught."

Relaxing, Alex nodded. "Thanks, Maggie."

"Yeah, thanks a lot, Maggie," Winn said with a lot less gratitude.

"Just show us the photo, Winn," Alex asked.

Winn opened the envelope. The top photo showed a group of smiling young faces, all bright-eyed and ready to take on the world. The banner behind them said, 'Engineers of the Future.' They all wore MIT t-shirts. There was an older woman, older than the students, standing off to the side. On a short table in front of the students was some sort of open multi-chambered contraption, about the size of a fist.

"Is that Lena?" Maggie asked pointing to a small girl with dark hair and bright green eyes. "Wow, she was a late bloomer. What a cute kid though. She looks so young there."

"Well, she only sixteen," Winn said.

"Six…! She was a freshman at sixteen!?" Maggie asked.

"No, a sophomore," Winn clarified.

"Jesus Christ," Maggie wiped her hands over her face. "I was sleeping on my aunt's couch at sixteen. That's why she's the CEO of a billion dollar company, and I get stuck in stinky vans."

"Hey, my van isn't stinky!"

"No, not this van," Maggie said, laying a gentle hand on Winn's shoulder. "This van is lovely. I mean other vans like police vans. Vans filled with cops tend to stink."

Winn nodded, but then sniffed the air, deciding he could pick up a few of those pine tree shaped air fresheners.

"That's Dr. Queen," Alex said, pointing at the older woman in the photo.

"Nope, that's Dr. Grace-Colby," Winn said.

"No, that's Queen," Alex repeated.

"Which was why she's so hard to find," Winn replied with a nod. He started to pull out picture after picture. It showed a few more of Lena through school, Dr. Queen, or whatever her name was, in the background of whatever club or project Lena was doing.

When they got to Lena's graduation photo, Maggie slapped her hand down, "Stop! Stop! Alex, do you recognize her?" There were four people in the picture. On the far left was Dr. Queen, and next to her was Lena. On the far right was a tall, thin young man who was also graduating, and between him and Lena was a woman in military fatigues. Maggie was pointing at the woman.

Alex nodded. "That's Kalia, Lena's nurse. She knows them both? Winn, do you have this woman's name?"

"Uh, no. I didn't know she was relevant," he admitted.

"Man, Kalia is shooting Dr. Queen the stink-eye, huh?" Maggie pointed out. Indeed, Kalia had her arm around Lena and was looking past the teen, staring daggers at the doctor.

"You want me to find out her name?" Winn asked.

Alex considered for a moment, then shook her head. "No. No more poking until I have time to think this through. We may need to run this all by J'onn. Honestly, this may all just die here. There's no wrongdoing."

"Well…" Winn looked back and forth between Alex and Maggie.

"Crap," Maggie said. "Why does there have to be wrong doings? I hate wrong doings."

"You'd be unemployed without wrong doings," Alex pointed out.

"I'd get a hobby, like…what's the thing where they carve whale bones or something?" Maggie asked.

"You mean scrimshaw?" Winn asked.

"That's what it's called? Yeah, I'm not going to do something that's called that. I'll get a different hobby. Show us the wrong doings."

"I don't have a picture of wrong doings, but I have a picture of a wrongdoer," Winn clarified, flipping to the next picture. Dr. Queen sat at a table, and to her right sat Maxwell Lord. Across from Max sat a pale woman with short blonde hair and to her right sat a man with light brown skin, a flat nose, black hair, mustache, and goatee. Each of these people had someone standing near them. Next to the blonde woman was Lena.

"Fuck," Alex said very slowly. "Max Lord. That is never good."

"Lena ever mention she knew him?" Maggie asked.

"Not to me, but Kara might know," Alex admitted. "I'd be surprised if they hadn't met. He's a millionaire scientist. They should run in the same circles."

"But he has no conscience," Maggie pointed out. "According to Kara, Lena got the conscience of all of the rest of the Luthors."

"Maybe," Alex agreed. "I hope so. Winn, just pack these away. Don't say anything to anyone and don't look into any of this until you hear differently from me."

"Well, I don't like jail, so that sounds good to me."

Alex was about to leave, but she turned around and said, "Oh, and Winn—"

"I know, don't say anything to Kara," Winn said, shaking his head while he gathered up the photos. He kept talking to himself while Maggie and Alex left. "Kara who? I don't know, who's Kara? I've never heard of her. That must be someone that other people are allowed to talk to. She's a stranger to me." He continued to mutter to himself while he made his way to the front of the van, sniffing again, deciding pine scented air fresheners were definitely called for.

Kara grabbed the mail as she made her way into her apartment at the end of her work day. She felt like one of those old-time cartoons with the actual raincloud hanging over her head. Her shoulders drooped, and her feet dragged. Her nickname of Sunny Danvers was left in her memory. Today there was no reason to be sunny.

Though she wasn't in the mood to eat, which was likely a sign of the apocalypse, Kara knew she needed calories. She dropped the mail on the counter as she dropped a couple of Pop-Tarts in the toaster. She flicked envelopes off the top of her pile of mail, bills shooting through her apartment at a speed that would have been dangerous had there been a human present. One envelope stuck corner into the drywall. When she reached a small box at the bottom, Kara stopped. She shook it, hearing a little bit of motion, but not much. Pulling down her glasses she used her x-ray vision to reveal a cellphone within.

"What the…?"

Kara opened the box to reveal a thick pile of bubble wrap. Unraveling it revealed a cellphone with a note on it that simply read, 'Turn me on.'

She grumbled. "Turn me on. This better not be some kind of weird porn thing."

Kara turned on the phone and waited while it fired up. It took several minutes while it went through prompts. When it started to make a call on its own, she panicked a bit. This could be any number of things. She tried to calm down, remembering she saw no Kryptonite, no explosives, just a normal cellphone and it went to Kara, not Supergirl. When the call was answered at the other end, her anxiety changed to surprise, joy, then a touch of anxiety again.

"Lori!"

"Kara!" Lori smiled leaning back in her chair as she stared through the screen of a laptop.

"Wh…what are you doing?" Kara asked.

"Eating cereal with marshmallows, no milk." Lori grabbed a handful of cereal and dropped it into her open mouth. A few pieces landing on her shirt and falling away as she sat up. "Shhhh. Don't tell my mom. What are you doing?"

"Uh…" Kara grabbed her Pop-Tarts that had popped and were still sitting in the toaster. "Eating Pop-Tarts, um, strawberry frosted."

Lori gasped, forming her hands into a heart shape and placing them over her chest. She smiled brightly saying, "We can keep each other's junk food secrets safe. So, what's going on there?"

"Oh, um, your mom is doing…well."

"Kara." Lori leaned forward, her forearms on the table. "I talk to my mom every night. I get to see how she's doing physically. I also don't get to talk to you anymore. She changed the access at the hospital to block you out, and she didn't set you up with a secure system so we could talk."

"Oh, my…! Is this line secure!?"

"What am I, four? Of course this line is secure. Don't change the subject," Lori said waving her hand at the screen. "What's going on with the lawyers? Why was my mom considering getting a restraining order against you?"

"A restraining order? Your mom is getting a restraining order against me?" Kara felt her heart pounding in her chest. She thought she and Lena would move past this, talk again, but nothing said 'we're not talking again' like a restraining order.

"No, her lawyers sent three over, but she didn't sign them. Who are Winslow Schott and Alexandria Danvers? Alexandria is your…?"

"Sister," Kara said, breathing a little easier knowing that Lena hadn't signed them. "Winn is a friend. He works…he's a friend. Lori, we messed up. We were all just trying to help your mom, but we messed up, and she's pretty pissed at us. I started it all, so I guess it's my fault. That durable power of attorney, me being your mom's domestic partner, I forged all that."

"Oh, I know."

"You know?" Kara asked, surprised.

"Again, what am I, four? I mean it was a decent forgery. It freaked me out at first because I had no idea who you were. I didn't know what was going on. I heard news reports, but they aren't usually right. They're more likely to be right by the time they get all the way out here, but still, I figured it was a load of crap. If my mom were incapacitated, I would have been contacted. There's a living trust in place. I never liked how she set it up because I don't trust her board of trustees. She's had them vetted, but I still think that Grandma Lillian has her thumbs in that."

"Holy crap!" Kara said nearly dropping the phone and actually dropping the Pop-Tart she'd been munching on.

"What's wrong?"

Pointing at the screen, Kara said, "You called her Grandma Lillian."

"Well, she's my mother's mother…not biologically, but still…" Lori stopped speaking and bit at the pad of her thumb as she thought for a moment. "Is that weird? I know she's all evil and anti-alien menace and all, but that's what I call her. Mom usually calls her mother. Calling her grandma just feels…weird. I haven't met her, not that I expect to, and I have a biological grandmother on my mother's side I'll never meet because she died when my mom was four. I guess Lillian Luthor is the closest thing I'll ever have to a grandparent. I've seen pictures of her…on the news. My mom also showed me pictures in case Grandma Lillian ever came after me. Mom wanted me to know who to avoid."

Kara sat there, taking that all in. Lori's biological maternal grandparents were dead. The goal was that her paternal grandparents would never know she existed given the circumstances around her conception. Her only remaining grandparent was Lillian Luther who had tried to commit mass genocide on the aliens of National City. Lillian was currently a wanted criminal and the head of Cadmus. Lori's knowledge of Lillian pretty much extended to 'stranger danger'.

Kara said the only thing that came to mind. "I'm so sorry honey."

Lori blinked three times, then smiled brightly. It reached her eyes, and her words seemed sincere. "It's fine. I'm good. Let's talk about you and my mom. What the hell is going on? You forged the power of attorney because of the board, right?"

"Yes," Kara agreed, head nodding rapidly. "I just wanted to find out who her power of attorney was. I didn't intend to forge a power of attorney. I was just…well, I've met your…I've met Lillian. I was worried someone would hurt your mom when she was already hurt. I was only trying to protect her. My friend Winn, he's the one who did the stuff with the document, you'd like Winn, he made me her domestic partner. I didn't know he was going to do that. I didn't know who you were. I never, ever tried to hurt your mom in any way."

"So you and my mom, you're really just friends?"

Eyes dropping, Kara nodded.

"Hey, Kara."

The blonde looked back up at the phone.

"You don't look too happy about that."

Kara sighed, elbows on the counter as she stared at the girl a continent away. "Lori, I like your mom tons. I told her, but she doesn't want to be involved with me. That's when everything went sideways."

"Ah. She's trying to protect you."

A crease appeared between Kara's eyebrows. That made no sense. She was Supergirl. She was faster than a speeding bullet. She was more powerful than a locomotive. She could leap—

"Kara, you still in there?"

"Hmmm? Oh, sorry. I kind of got lost in my own thoughts," Kara admitted with a little smile. "What were you saying, honey?"

"I'll talk to my mom."

"No, don't. She's already upset enough with me. I got dragged in to talk to lawyers today. They made it pretty clear that this was the one warning we're getting. We either step away from your mother, or there will be legal proceedings."

Lori laughed.

"Well, I'm glad someone thinks this is funny. I think Winn had to go home and change his underwear."

"That's because you folks are all scared of my mom. She's not scary."

"Lori, your mom, is scary," Kara informed the girl.

Lori grinned. "Oh, she's been visiting me when she had to take a business call or do a meeting. It's freaky. I'll admit that. Her face gets all blank, and she just stares." Lori wiped her hand in front of her face, and as she did, a neutral expression appeared. She looked at Kara for several uncomfortable moments, one eyebrow rising slowly in a rather terrifying Lena Luthor imitation before she broke into a fit of giggles. "Oh, it's so weird. I mean I know it's part of her, but that's not my mom. She's super nice and kind of silly. When I think about my mom, I think about us running across the hardwood floor in our socks because I was sick and couldn't go ice skating. I think about us playing 'Pajama Pajama Dance Party' and singing into our hairbrushes. I think of braiding hair, painting nails, and singing The Elements song."

"The Elements song?"

Lori nodded. "You know, The Element song. There's antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium,

And hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium,

And nickel, neodymium, neptunium, germanium,

And iron, americium, ruthenium, uranium…" Lori smiled. "My mom was great about making learning fun when I was a little kid.

Instead of pointing out that Lori was still a little kid, Kara smiled at the person that Lori knew so naturally. Instead of Lean Luthor, CEO of L-Corp, the girl knew mom, sock slider, hairbrush singer, and woman who made learning fun. She sounded like an awesome parent. Kara thought she also sounded like an awesome partner.

"I lose you again in there Kara?"

Kara nodded, smiling shyly. "Sorry, just thinking about…"

"My mom?" As Kara looked pensive again, Lori said, "Look, before you fade out on me again, I think my mom likes you, and you shouldn't give up on her."

"You think?" Kara asked perking up.

"Oh, yeah. When I asked her she said, 'We're not discussing this Lorelai.' I don't get that name unless I'm getting grounded, which has happened twice ever, or if we're dealing with legal documents which happens waayyy too often, or on the very rare occasions when my mom pulls rank on me, and she doesn't want to talk to me about something. Up until now it has been about her family. By that I mean the Luthors. Usually she's great about answering any question I have, but sometimes she's just beat. I think it's when the press has been at her for too long. She doesn't need to hear questions from me too, you know?"

"I know. I am the press," Kara admitted with a shy grin.

"Oh, awkward. So, when I pressed…heh…pressed, awkward again. When I pushed my mom on her feelings for you, and she told me we weren't discussing it that was practically a confession. She likes you, likes you."

"She likes me, likes me?" Kara bit her bottom lip.

Lori nodded, smiling.

"Well, what if there's something about me she doesn't like? What if there's a reason she didn't want to date me even if she really liked me?"

"Like what?"

"Uh…" Eyes peering away for a moment, Kara looked back and replied, "My religion? What's your mom's religion?"

"Well, she was Catholic until the Luthors adopted her. Then she was raised Protestant. What's your religion, Kara?"

"Um…neither of those," Kara replied with pursed lips.

"I don't think religion matters to my mom. Science is really her religion. You're not like anti-Science, are you? Wait, are you a creationist?" Lori whispered the word creationist.

Kara had to laugh slightly. That was probably one of the dirtiest words that Lori knew, at least as far as Lena was concerned. "No, I'm not a creationist. My birth father was a scientist, a really good one. My foster parents are both doctors."

"Oh, you…uh…your parents…?"

"My family died when I was twelve. I went to live with the Danvers. They're really nice. I was lucky," Kara explained, hoping she was answering Lori's question.

"You lost your family too," Lori said, biting at the pad of her thumb again. She chewed thoughtfully, then asked, "Are you ready to give up on a relationship with my mom?"

"No. Lori, not being with her hurts. If she wanted to be with me, I'd want that too. I don't think she wants all of me though."

"Hey, she told you about me. That's huge. She's dated before, but she never told anyone about me."

Kara shook her head. "I pushed her into that. We sort of made a deal to answer a question truthfully. She had no idea I knew your name, and I had no idea who you were. I thought you might be a girlfriend and I was being stupidly jealous, so I asked about you. She didn't want to tell me about you, but she was keeping her word, so she did."

"You thought I was my mom's girlfriend?"

Kara shrunk down, hiding her face behind her hand and groaning. "Argh. It sounds so gross now, especially when you say it. I had no idea who you were. I just knew you were in her will. You're pretty much her will. I was such an idiot. I bullied her into telling me about you. I was a jerk to her. I feel awful about it."

"Hey Kara," When the blonde peeked out between her fingers, Lori said, "No one bullies my mom into doing anything. I don't know what you did exactly, and it may not have been cool, but if my mom didn't want to do something she would have said no. She shuts down the heads of multi-million dollar companies just by saying no. She doesn't give an explanation. She says that women feel the need to explain why they don't want to do things, or why they can't, and then people become our problem solvers. She says just to say no if you mean no. If she agreed to tell you about me, it was because she trusted you. She's never trusted anyone with me. She never even told Uncle Lex. She loved him. She still loves him, but she couldn't trust him. He was too close to Grandma Lillian. She trusts you though."

"She trusts me?" Kara asked, standing upright again.

Lori smiled. "Let me work on my mom. She has a tendency to distance people when she's trying to be protective. Trust me. I'm kind of a subject matter expert here. So, tell me about the part of your day that didn't include my mom and crazy lawyers. What was work like?"

"Ugh." Kara grabbed her other Pop-Tart, walking over to the couch and flopping down. "Snapper was such a pain in the butt today."

"Who's Snapper?"

"He's my boss, sort of. He's my Editor. He definitely thinks he's the boss of me. He's really rude. He calls me Ponytail like it's my name."

"Ah, bad manners." Lori nodded. "My mom says one of the problems in society is that common courtesy is not so common anymore."

"Your mom's a smart lady."

Lori laughed. "Oh, she knows. Don't bother reminding her."

Kara laughed too. As the conversation continued, and the smiles and laughter flowed, she was certain she'd found not just an ally but a friend. This was yet another reason to make things work with Lena. The more she got to know Lori, the harder it would be to lose the girl.


	21. 21-SwissCube Project

As Kara stepped out of CatCo, she saw a familiar figure leaning against a car. She almost didn't recognize the woman in normal clothes. It was like seeing your pharmacist in the aisle of the grocery store. You know that you know them, but without the usual clothes and familiar surroundings, the person looks strange.

"Kalia?"

The nurse nodded. "How you doing, Kara?"

"Is Lena all right?" Kara's heart was racing.

"She's a pain in the ass," Kalia replied, opening the passenger side car door of the car on which she was leaning. "Get in."

"What?"

"Inside the car. They're designed for people to get inside them and drive around. Get in," Kalia repeated.

"But I…" Kara looked into the car. It was a normal looking sedan, no one else inside, and there was a box from a pastry shop sitting on the passenger side seat. She lifted the box, sliding into the seat and putting on her seatbelt as she watched Kalia walk around the outside and get into the driver's side, also buckling up.

"Hungry?" Kalia asked while she started the car and checked traffic.

"Uh…always."

"I've noticed. Go ahead and eat. You seem to have quite the sweet tooth."

"Yeah, I…" Kara opened the box. It was filled with an assortment of mini-pastries. There were eclairs, crème horns, seven layer cakes, half-and-half cookies, and cannoli. Her breath came out in a trembling shudder, and as she inhaled, the sugar slammed her in the face like a fist. She closed her eyes, taking a moment to breathe normally before her eyes opened and slide left to stare at Kalia. "So, uh, how many of these can I uh…?"

"They're all for you," Kalia replied to the partially asked question.

Pulling her feet up to the seat, Kara wrapped a protective arm around the box as if Kalia might change her mind.

"So, how was work?" Kalia asked.

"Uh…busy," Kara mumbled amid sweet goodness. "You?"

"I'm on my way in still, but actually I'm hoping you can help me out there."

"Me?"

"Yeah, you blondie. See, Miss Luthor is being an even bigger pain in the ass than usual since your departure. I want you to fix that."

Kara's eyes narrowed at the word choice 'than usual'. There was something about it that felt like a longer relationship than less than two weeks. She considered digging into that but let it go. Instead, Kara said, "Lena kicked me out. She had a lawyer talk to me. I can't help."

"Bull shit. If you want to help, you can help. Do you want to help?" She glanced over at Kara. "Well, do you?"

"Do I want to be with Lena?"

"Okay, another way to ask it, sure, so do you?"

Kara sighed. "If it were real, 100% real, yes. I'm not cutting off pieces of myself to be with someone. I've been thinking about his. I miss her. I miss just her friendship. It has to be real though."

"Hmmm…I don't know what went wrong with you two, but not talking to someone doesn't fix whatever is broken. The way you two looked at each other, that's worth fighting for. I've lost people I've loved. There comes a point where you can't fill those holes with anyone else or anything else, and you're never whole again. There comes a point where you can't fake it, where you don't want to fake it. Kid, before you stop caring about love, grab hold of it."

Mind going back to an entire world torn apart in front of her eyes, and twenty-four years in the Phantom Zone spent with that as one of her last sights, Kara nodded to herself. She'd already lost so much. How much room for loss did she have left in herself before she stopped caring, stopped loving? When did she turn her back on this new world, these fragile little, humans knowing they were all just going to be torn away like her world? Before her heart hardened, she needed to keep trying.

"What do I do?"

"There is some stationary and envelopes under the seat. Write her something. Don't e-mail her or text her. Put it on paper, something she can hold in her hand. Sometimes, having that in your hand, being able to go back and read those words and touch them makes all the difference."

Kara nodded, putting down the box of pastries and grabbing the box of stationary from under the seat. Immediately she saw white, sugar fingerprints from the treats along the plastic lid. "Oh, um, do you have some tissues or—"

"Gloves box," Kalia said. There are napkins in there."

Kara opened it, taking out some napkins from a selection of various drive-thru venues. She whipped her fingers clean and was whipping the handle on the glove box when a picture inside caught her eye. It was small, wallet size, and obviously a few years old. She pulled it out, seeing a smiling Kalia next to a taller, young man in a graduation gown. They had similar coloring. She flipped over the back and on it was simply written, "Everett, MIT Graduation, 2012." Her brow furrowed immediately as she remembered that was the same year Lena had graduated from MIT. She flipped the photo over again, looking at the two people in it.

"What are you doing?" Kalia asked harshly. "Don't touch my stuff."

"Oh, sorry. I was just…" Kara held up the photo. "He's cute, kind of looks like you. Is he a relative?"

Her face darkened, and she pointed toward the glovebox. "Put it back. I don't like my stuff being touched."

Kara nodded, putting the photo back and closing up the glovebox. "Sorry. I didn't mean any harm, Kalia."

"Whatever." Kalia was watching the road again, and her usual look that vacillated between disinterest and irritation was now smudged with pain.

Storing that fact away, Kara took out the paper and grabbed a pen from her purse. When the car stopped, she looked up, surprised. She was in front of her apartment. "Oh, do you want me to…?"

"I'll wait," Kalia said, looking straight ahead.

Kara nodded, even though the other woman wasn't looking at her. She took a good deal of time to gather her thoughts, usually being able to edit a document on which she was working. This time she had to get it done the first time, and this was one of the most important documents she had ever written. It took her close to an hour before she finished it, sealing the envelope and handing it over to Kalia.

"Thanks for doing this," Kara said.

"Hey, if you get that pain in the ass of my case, you're doing me a favor," Kalia said with a sneer.

Kara smiled, not believing the nurse. "Okay, then you owe me one."

"No, I don't. Gran your pastries. We're even."

"Oh, right." Kara grabbed the food from the floor. These were great, thanks."

"Later, kid. Hope to see you around, you know so that you can keep that bitch off my case."

"Right, only for that reason," Kara said with a bright smile through the window as she closed the door.

After shooting Kara a dirty look, Kalia peeled off into traffic without looking back.

Taking a mini-chocolate éclair from her box, Kara bit it in half and smiled. She had a box of treats and two conspirators. Her future was looking up.

Lena's phone rang as she sat mostly upright in her hospital bed. She glanced at the number, picking it up and saying to her nurse, "Jake, please leave. I need to take this in private."

"Yes, ma'am," the nurse said, leaving the room and shutting the door.

"Just a moment," Lena said as she answered the phone. She plugged in her headset, smiling and asking, "Is everything all right? You're calling early."

"What a pleasure to hear from you earlier in the day, daughter," Lori said, sitting back in her chair, one eyebrow raised as she looked entirely like her mother. "It must be my lucky day."

Lena sigh. "Sarcasm noted. How are you today, darling?"

"I'm great!" Lori replied, leaning forward with her elbows on the desk as she peered through her computer screen. "So, is Kara there today?"

"She is not. Tell me about classes. Any exciting assignments on the horizon?"

"Why isn't Kara there, Mom? It's 6:30 your time. She should be done with work and gotten to the hospital by now. Where is she?"

"I…I don't know where she is, Lori. You see…" Lena stopped, trying to find the right words to explain the situation. "The truth of the matter is—"

"You locked Kara out of your room and then sent your lawyers after her?"

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Lena said, "Luthors are prone to jail time. You know that. We've discussed this fact. Lori, you are much too pale to carry off jailhouse orange well. This cyber spying simply must stop."

"What will I do with my free time?" Lori retorted.

Lena sighed. "I don't know. Do what the other children do. What do your peers do?"

"Snapchat."

"Social media?" Lena clarified. "Your friends spend their time on social media?"

"I wouldn't say they're my friends, but they're my peers. We take the same classes, so they're teenagers just a few years older than me."

Lena immediately softened, all too familiar with that feeling. Before she knew who her birth father was, that Lionel Luthor was actually her father, she grew up feeling that she'd been picked out not because Lillian wanted her as a person, but because she met certain metrics. The older she got, the worse it got. She'd regularly hear how pretty she was, then how beautiful or stunning. When Lillian would smile and nod in Lena's direction, as if that was Lillian's accomplishment, it made Lena want to crawl into a dark place and never come out. When Lena won chess tournaments, moved up in grades beyond those her age, came home with medals and awards, was chosen to work on special projects, graduated years ahead of others her age with perfect grades, in those moments, she was Lillian's daughter. Lena was always so torn, hoping something would get an honest glimmer of affection from her mother, yet Lena always felt like a performing pony. She'd get dressed up, prettied up, do better tricks than any of the other pets, then trot back out of the spotlight so Lillian could receive her accolades. It was a lifetime of a confusion for a child who only wanted friendship and love, a child who daily asked herself, 'If you can't love me, why didn't you leave me for someone who could?'

"Mom?"

Lena shook her head, blinking away memories that haunted her to this day. "What about clubs at school?"

"I'm in the Science and Computer clubs."

"Yes, I know, but that sounds…dangerous, the Computer club I mean. That sounds like it's enabling. Are you getting into any trouble there?"

Perking right up, Lori replied, "Mom, they let us work on this awesome project called The SwissCube Project. We're making these tiny satellites, cubes that are only 10cm on each side."

"Tiny satellites?" Lena lifted one eyebrow.

"They're totally real!" Lori replied to her mother's obvious skepticism, hoping up and down a bit while still remaining seated. "They have all the critical sub-systems in normal satellites. Building these teaches engineering competencies like thermal and mechanical engineering, communications technologies, electronics, soldering techniques, computer science and coding theory, control theory, propulsion—"

"All right, all right," Lena said with a growing smile. "I'm convinced my future astronaut. No plans for you to go into space anytime soon, are there?"

"I think I have to be at least eighteen, so you have a few years," Lori said tipping her head to the side. "That's not why I called you, though nice distraction."

"Oh." Lena deflated. "Lori, Kara…that…adult relationships are complicated."

"Oh, don't even," Lori said, waggling a finger at her mother. "We don't do that to each other. I may be a child, and I may be your child, but I'm not an idiot."

Lena nodded. "You're right. I apologize. We don't do that to each other. I care deeply for Kara. She's my best friend. If she were able to keep things there, I'd be happy to do the same. Right now, I don't think she's able to do that. Perhaps in time she'll see the value in our friends and make a rational decision. If so, we can both have her in our life. I truly hope so."

"But that's not what you really want," Lori said. "You don't care for her as just a friend. You like her as more than a friend, don't you?"

"Oh, Dear Lord."

"Be honest, Mom."

"Lori, I don't think my feelings for Kara are an appropriate topic of—"

"Mother."

"Don't you 'Mother' me," Lena snapped.

"Don't you deserve it," Lori responded immediately. "Kara is good and kind, and she may be willing to love you even though you're trying like hell to stop her from doing it. Not a lot of people are strong enough to stand up to you and gentle enough to belong with you. You're not going to find another Kara on this planet. Why are you pushing her away?"

Lena didn't reply. She sat, stiff-lipped, but her eyes were growing watery.

"You're trying to protect her, aren't you?"

After several more moments, Lena nodded once.

"I knew it. I knew you were trying to keep her away to keep her safe. That's your pattern." Lori took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "I know you never planned on keeping me. I found the adoption papers you signed."

Open mouthed, Lena froze unable to respond.

"You were going to give me up," Lori stated simply. There was little emotion in what she said, just the truth.

The simplicity of the statement made it easier on Lena. "Yes."

"What happened? What made you change your mind?"

"You were born, and they placed you in my arms. I looked down at you and I…I just couldn't because…"

"Because you loved me," Lori said, not a question, a statement.

"No…well yes. I loved you immediately. I had no idea it would feel like that, looking at your baby, holding her, I had no idea it would feel like that. Even after talking to you, feeling you inside me for all those months, I had no idea that holding you in my arms and looking at you eye to eye would feel like that. In all my life, I'd never felt anything like that. I'm hardly a religious woman. I value science above all, but in that moment, I felt something I don't think I'll ever be able to quantify. If there is a God, He or She is in that moment."

"You loved me, Mom." Lori smiled. "I'm no angry about the adoption papers. I never was. I was confused when I found them. I never knew how to ask you about them, but you never made me feel unwanted. You were just scared, but you loved me, and that's what matters."

Lena sat shaking her head, her mouth a tight line. "No, Lori, listen to me. I didn't keep you because I loved you. I kept you because I wanted you to love me. I looked down at beautiful, innocent, perfect little you, and I thought, 'If this child can love me, then perhaps I'm not worthless after all.' I kept you because I needed someone to love me. I needed a voice inside my head, one that would grow louder than Lillian's, and I prayed that would be yours. I struggled every day to be worthy of you, to be someone deserving of your love. With every one of your smiles, every time you tottered across the floor, when you stacked your blocks in multiples of two you bloody little genius, I grew further from being Lillian Luthor's daughter and grew closer to being Lori Luthor's mother. I wish I could say I kept you as a selfless act of love, but keeping you was the most selfish thing I ever did."

Eyes swimming with tears and lower lip quivering, Lori replied, "It never felt that way to me. Sometimes it felt like we were growing up together. You weren't much older than I am now when you had me, just a few years. I try not to think about that because it frightens me. I can't imagine what my life would be like if I suddenly became a parent. I'm not ready. I'm nowhere near ready. I know you weren't ready, but you did it anyway. Maybe you kept me because you wanted love, Mom, but you gave me every reason to love you. You deserve love. You deserve more than just my love though. You have enough love for a child and a partner. Who do you want that to be?"

"Lori I…" Lena shook her head. "I can't do this."

"Because you want to keep her safe."

"Yes!"

"Mom, I know you've done a lot to keep me safe. I'm off in another country, and you don't let anyone know about me. I know you're involved with something even though we don't talk about it. You have servers and e-mails that I can't break through, and believe me, I've tried. My dad scares you. Uncle Lex's people scare you. Grandma Lillian scares you. You put up a brave front, and you never back down, but I know you spend most of your life scared. I just have one question to ask you. When you're with Kara, do you feel safe?"

Lena had been sitting stiffly in her bed, face and lips drawn. At that question, everything changed. Awareness washed over her. She exhaled and tension washed out from the tip of her head across her whole body. She had wanted to tell Lori she wasn't scared, just concerned and alert for danger, but at the thought of the difference, she felt when with Kara, it was undeniable.

Her mouth curling into a smile, Lori said, "That's what I thought. Maybe it's time you let someone protect you."

"…I need time. I…Kara…"

"Don't talk to me about it. I'm just a vaguely interested third party."

The snort Lena made was not a very Lena Luthor noise. "Vaguely interested, is that what we're calling this?"

"Well, I'm vaguely interested in having a little brother or sister one day, so figure it out, Mom." Lori snapped her fingers. "Come on. Get a crack-a-lacking."

With a slight laugh, Lena said, "Oh yes, I'm practically an old maid."

Elbows on her desk and face leaning on her hands, Lori smiled and nodded.

Smiling back, Lena looked at her daughter and exhaled heavily. Then she said, "Lori, you were my SwissCube Project."

Head tilted to the side with confusion; the girl just waited for an explanation.

"You were such a tiny little thing. I was young, and you were born several weeks early. You were small, so small, but every part of you was perfect. You had these perfect little hands, with perfect little fingers and on them, perfect little fingernails. I swear, I'd never seen anything so tiny as your little fingernails."

Lori smiled, holding up her hand. "They're still pretty small."

"Mine too," Lena said, holding up her hand. "I remember holding you, looking at that tiny little hand that gripped my pinky and seeing all of your parts that were perfectly engineered miniatures of mine. All I could think is that's what you were: mine and perfect. I had to leave you there with the Kinsinger family, but you were always out there in my orbit. I'd reach out, communicate with you, send you things, visit you whenever I was able to under the guise of visiting Nina. As your mind grew and I saw the way your genius leaned, I knew you were mine in that way too. I wish I could have been there for you more, but being my orbital was safer. The closer you get to the Luthors, the shorter your life expectancy."

"You worry too much, Mom."

"Oh no." Lena shook her head. "You, darling, don't worry enough. No, I take that back. You don't need to worry. Just follow the rules. Worrying is my job. Agreed?"

"Yes, Mother," Lori said with an eye roll.

"Oh, I'm Mother again?"

"You're earning it again," Lori replied, smiling as Lena smiled back.

Lena was eating beef broth when there was a knock on the door. "Come in. Oh, hello Kalia."

"Time for vitals."

"I'm eating."

"Congratulations," Kalia said as she walked around the woman and pulled out a BP cuff.

"But I only just started to eat. I don't mean just this minute, though that's certainly true. I mean that I went weeks without being able to eat and now I'm finally able to start n clear—" as Kalia stared at her, Lena held out her left arm. "Just hurry."

"You're a peach, Luthor."

She took the BP, then did pulse and respirations before writing it all on Lena's chart. "You can eat again. Any pain, chills, aches, dizziness, ringing in your ears, vertigo?"

"Just a pain in the ass," Lena murmured.

"I'll write down no." Kalia did so, pulling the blanket off of Lena's legs. She unclicked the pen and ran it down the woman's leg. "Tell me when you can't feel that."

Lena nodded during the process, nodding all the way down to her toes. She did so again on her other leg.

"You felt all that?"

"The legs feel fine. Around my ankles, it gets a bit muddied, but I can feel it. It's almost like I'm wearing socks if that makes sense. Considering yesterday, I couldn't tell the difference between one toe and another—"

"Vast improvement," Kalia agreed. "Your healing is amazing. You're going to be a test study since they didn't manage to kill you. It was close you know."

Staring at her hands, Lena nodded. "I made the wrong decision."

Kalia sat on the side of the bed, stroking Lena's hair. "Sometimes we do the best we can with the information we have at the time. There are no guarantees for any of us, not in this life. We're all going to buy it at some point. You get to decide how you live."

Meeting Kalia's gaze, Lena said, "I'm not worried about myself. I'm worried about those left behind."

"Good segue," Kalia said, going over to her jacket and pulling out an envelope. She tossed it onto Lena's table before covering the woman's legs back up again.

"What's this?"

"A letter from your girlfriend."

"My…this is from Kara?" Lena asked, looking at her name handwritten is lovely, curved letters.

"Yup."

Lena sighed. "You have got to be kidding me. Not you too. What's going on with this conspiracy?"

"What does that mean?"

Lena dropped the letter onto the table.

"It means I just want to eat my broth in peace while it's still warm."

Kalia grabbed the tray from the table. "It's cold. I'll go warm it up for you. You read your letter."

"But…I…" Lena sighed as the door closed behind her. "I probably won't get food if this isn't at least open." She tapped the letter on the table, hemming, and hawing for several moments before opening the envelope and reading the letter.

 _Lena,_

 _I hope you're doing well. I keep wondering how you're progressing. The last time I saw you, you were sitting up a little bit. I bet you're doing better than that. Maybe you're sitting up all the way. Is that too much to hope? No. I can hope. For your sake, I'm going to keep hoping. Even if we don't speak again, I know one day I'll see you walking down the street or maybe at a press conference. It's not the way I want us to interact, but so long as you're walking, that's what's important._

 _I feel like there was something important between us that we didn't get to say when I left. Maybe that's on me for leaving the way I did. Maybe it's on you for not giving me a chance to come back. Maybe it's on both of us. Usually, when people have a problem, it's on both of them. The truth is usually in the middle. My truth is that I felt like you didn't like all of me. That hurt. I spent twelve years since my birth family died lying to the whole world about who I really am. I lied to myself about who I really am. Telling anyone is so very hard. When I came out to you, I was so scared, but at the same time, it felt so right. Then you rejected me. You get to feel however you feel, but that's how I feel._

 _When I met you, I liked you. There was just something about you that seemed earnest. I'm a pretty good judge of character. People kept telling me not to trust you because you're a Luthor, but I never understood that. What did your last name have to do with who you were? Then, time and time again you showed who you were. So many people didn't seem capable of seeing what you did and could only see your last name again. It was so frustrating. I got angry, but you almost seemed to expect it. There was a part of you that accepted that you were a Luthor and no one would see anything else. You know I did, right?_

 _When I showed you all of myself, both sides of the coin, that was the first time I saw a Luthor and not Lena. That broke my heart. I felt judged like I was sure you must have felt every day of your life. I felt judged in the way I railed against that judgment for you every time someone called you a Luthor. When you asked me to pretend I wasn't who I was, what I was, that was one of the biggest pains in my life. You don't need to feel the things for me that I feel for you, Lena. We're friends though. The only thing you need to do is accept me as I am. That was what hurt. I wanted to end the lie of omission. You asked me to pretend it didn't end. That I can't do._

 _Someone recently told me that maybe, just maybe, this isn't about you not wanting to know me. Maybe this is about you wanting to protect me. That makes no sense. Even making no sense, it still makes more sense than you being a bigot. Unless I haven't known you for all of these months, unless I'm an awful judge of character, you don't put conditions on friendship or love. I can't believe this is about who I am. I honestly don't know what's going on, but I still believe I know you. I'm not ready to give up on you if you're willing to let all of me in your life. The next move is yours._

 _Love,_

 _Your Kara_

Lena sat there, her fingers tracing over the etched lines in the paper where the words, 'Your Kara' were placed. She didn't even know she was crying until she saw the wetness hit the page. She didn't try to stop it though. Lena had plenty of reasons to cry.


	22. 22-Little Things

As Kalia walked into her room with flowers, Lena was sitting up in bed going over some contracts on her laptop. She saw the motion out of the side of her eye, but didn't look over as she asked, "What are you doing?"

"You have flowers."

"Those don't go in here. You know that. There are patients who aren't getting flowers. Take them to one of their rooms." Still not looking, Lena waved at the nurse with the back of her hand, shooing her and the flowers away.

"It has a card."

"The card can go to my secretary. Jess will write gratuities to whoever has sent it," Lena said, flapping her hand again.

"There's no name on the card. I think it's from Kara. It's a poem," Kalia said with a smile.

Lena sighed. "Not yet. I'm not ready."

"Yes, you are. It's been three days since she sent you that letter and you must read that thing a dozen times a day. You're just stalling. You know what you want to do, but you're torturing yourself. You're hurting that kid too. Why don't you take this new note?" When Lena looked away from the out held note, refusing to make eye contact, Kalia said, "Fine, I'll read it to you."

Closing her eyes, Lena rubbed her hands over her face. "Why are you being so a bloody romantic? You don't like Kara. You don't like anyone."

"That's true, but you like Kara," Kalia said, pulling the card out of its envelope and clearing her throat. "Little drops of water, Little grains of sand, Make the mighty ocean And the pleasant land. Thus the little minutes, Humble though they be, Make the mighty ages Of eternity."

Lena inhaled sharply several times, her breath coming in tiny gasps. "Little Things, by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer."

"Okay, it's not the most romantic poem I've heard, not that I'm much of a judge of…" Looking at Lena's face, eyes wide and staring straight ahead, Kalia asked, "What's wrong?"

Slowly, Lena's head turned until she looked at the flowers in the nurse's hand. It was a basket with the usual sort of spread one might expect from some floral shop. However, in the center, were several bursts of bright, purple flowers with yellow centers.

Licking her lips to get some moisture back in her mouth, Lena said, "Polemonium."

"Lena, what the hell's going on!?" Kalia demanded.

"The flower, it polemonium, more commonly known as, Jacob's ladder. It's a flowering plant. When I moved in with the Luthors, they had extensive gardens in their home in Metropolis. I was utterly fascinated with the flowers. Picking flowers were something my mother and I had done in Ireland, and it never occurred to me that doing so would be seen as anything but a kindness. When I brought my new mother a Polemonium from the garden, her reaction was anything but kind." Lena's lips twitched unpleasantly at the corners as she relived the memory. "Get that thing the feck out of here. It's from Lillian. Call the police. They'll want to take it into evidence."

It was nearly two hours later before Detective Maggie Sawyer marched into Lena Luthor's room. The two women made eye contact, both looking equally happy to see each other which meant not at all. The last time Maggie had seen Lena on official business, she'd arrested her. Since then things had gotten better between them then worse after the whole Alex and Kara debacle.

"Detective Sawyer," Lena said. "I wasn't expecting…you."

"Yeah, my Lieutenant volunteered me, no offense."

"None taken. You'll need a statement from me?"

"I will. I…" Maggie looked at Lena as if seeing her for the first time. "You're sitting up."

Indeed, Lena was in a wheelchair, her legs strapped in. She wore slippers, and there was a wide belt that went around her torso and also the wheelchair, offering support.

"Daily," Lena said with a nod. "I'm doing it for longer and longer periods of time every day."

"Hey, that's great," Maggie said with an honest smile. "Kara know?"

"I haven't been in touch with Miss Danvers."

Not missing the passive-aggressive response, Maggie said, "Shoot her a text. You'll make the kid's week."

"So what questions did you have for me, Detective?"

Pulling out her notebook at the dismissal, Maggie said, "We got the note and the plant. There was no signature, and it was typed, not hand written. How did you know it was from your mother?"

"The poem was one she would read to me on occasion at bedtime if she were feeling particularly…maternal. It happened more if Lex was away. He was her child. Usually, nanny would tuck me in. Also, one of the plants in the display, polemonium, we had it in our garden."

"Did it mean anything special?" Maggie asked, taking notes.

"Well, I loved it. It was beautiful, and I was drawn to it as a little girl. I was punished for touching it."

"Punished how?" Maggie asked, looking up over her notes.

"Well that all depended on if my father was home and how drunk he was. Father was quite loving to me, but he traveled often. He also became fonder and fonder of his drink as time went on which left him less and less capable of standing between Mother and me."

"So were any of these punishments physical?"

Lena nodded once.

"That seem unusual to you?"

"Did it seem unusual to me at the time, or does it seem unusual to me in retrospect, Detective? As a child, we know what we know." When Maggie opened her mouth to ask another question, Lena spoke over her, "Detective, is there a reason for this line of questioning? Yes, my mother is an awful person which made her an abysmal parent. She sent me some flowers. Go find her."

"Miss Luthor, I'm looking for the message in the flowers. I'm assuming she could have sent you any number of things that would have reminded you of your childhood. She chose those flowers that reminded you of having done something wrong and being punished. They said that you'd touched something you shouldn't have touched. They equaled a physical punishment. Now, what does she think you've touched that you should get punished for?"

From outside the door, Kalia's voice said, "You can't go in—!"

Suddenly Supergirl was in the room, looking down at Lena. "You're sitting up."

Kalia hurried into the room. "I tried to stop her, Miss Luthor. I told her to stop. I told her, but then she was just gone. I never even saw her move and then…God damn superheroes."

Maggie looked over at Supergirl, "Hmmm…freaky timing."

"You're not on my visitor list," Lena said icily to Supergirl.

"How are you?" Supergirl asked as she dropped down to a crouch in front of the wheelchair and ignored the cold comment from Lena.

"Miss Luthor, what would you like me to do? Should I call the cops?" Kalia asked.

"I am the cops," Maggie replied.

"It's all right, Kalia. Please go outside and close the door. I'll resolve this issue," Lena informed the nurse. When she'd done so, Lena pointed over to a window. "Make yourself scarce."

"I heard about your mother contacting you."

Lena looked up at the detective.

"I didn't tell her anything," Maggie assured the other woman.

"I heard about it from a contact at the FBI," Supergirl said.

With a sigh, Maggie admitted, "I didn't give any case details, but I had to cancel a date with my girlfriend to come over here. I just said you'd received something from your mother and I was assigned the case. I told her not to wait up. I didn't realize that she'd tell her—"

"Detective," Lena said suddenly as she shook head sharply.

"We don't talk about my relationship to anyone," Supergirl said as she stood up, staring down at Lena. "I know you don't want me here, but I still care. I can't just turn that off like flipping a switch. Even if you never let me see you again, I'll always still care."

"I…" Lena lifted her hand then pulled it back down and into herself as she adverted her eyes from the superhero. This was so incredibly difficult. In front of her was Supergirl: strong, brave, beautiful, self-sacrificing. In front of her was Kara: sweet, innocent, friendly, loving, generous, thoughtful. The curtain between the two that Lena had always insisted be kept in place was gone. One image was superimposed over the other forming something new. Now Lena didn't see Kara and Lena didn't see Supergirl, Lena saw HER, and she was perfect. She couldn't be unseen.

"You two want privacy?" Maggie asked. "I think I have what I need here. I'll just leave my card on the table, and you can call me if you think of anything else, Miss Luthor."

"That won't be necessary, Detective," Lena said. "I mean, please do leave your card, but you don't need to leave. The department was invited in to deal with this matter. Supergirl, your assistance isn't required."

"If this involves Lillian Luthor, you might need my help, Lena. Tell me what she did. Don't let what's going on between us get in the way. Don't let pride be your downfall."

Lena took a moment to consider that, to let the rational side of her brain act instead of allowing her emotions to react. "Fine. I received some flowers and a card from my mother. There was no signature, but the card was a poem I recognized from my childhood. The flowers were something we had in the gardens in Metropolis. I'd pick them and be punished for doing it. It was a life lesson. The detective seems to think she's telling me that I've touched something which I should not touch and there will be a punishment for doing so."

"Like what?" Supergirl asked.

"This is my mother. Her anti-alien agenda is sending her down the same path as Lex. I don't know that I can speak for her sanity. It could be some piece of technology which L-Corp is developing. It could be L-Corp itself for all I know. I'm uncertain. I'll have a list of everything under development sent to my attention for review, though it will take some time to go through all of it. We're not a small company, and we have dozens of affiliates."

Turning to look at Maggie, Kara stood with brow furrowed, the crease between her eyebrows pressed deeply. She noticed the look of concern on the detective's face and thought they were of mind so she asked, "Lena, could it be a person and not a thing that is upsetting your mother?"

"This is my mother. She could be blaming me for the weather patterns," Lena replied. "If my relatives are alive, they're probably trying to kill me."

Crouching again, Supergirl placed her hands on Lena's where they rested on the arms of the wheelchair. "Is it me? Is this a message about not associating with me? Are you in danger because of me? Lena, is this what happened with us? Are you scared of your mother?"

"I'm going to wait outside," Maggie said, dropping her card on the bedside table before she stepped out of the room and closed the door behind her.

"Please Lena, talk to me about this. Are you afraid your mother will hurt you if you date me? I can protect you. Give me a chance. Give us a chance," Supergirl pleaded.

"I don't need your protection. I intend to make amends for my family's anti-alien hysterics, not run from them. Trust that if I weren't willing to face the backlash from and about my family head on, I'd have sold off the company and moved away."

"Then what is this?" Supergirl asked. "You're scared. I can sense it. If you're not scared for yourself then…Lena, are you scared for me?"

"That makes no sense," Lena replied.

"I agree with you," Supergirl said as she stood. "And yet you didn't say no." The hero walked around the room a bit, eyes taking in any changes from when she was here last even as her mind tried to work out what she was missing, why Lena would be scared for her. Lillian was the obvious answer. Lillian would kill Kara in a heartbeat for getting too close to her daughter. The woman might just kill them both. That seemed so cut and dry, like a conversation they could have that Kara wanted to dismiss it out of hand.

"For what are you looking?" Lena asked as she strained her neck, trying to see the blonde who was nearly behind her, the closet door open.

"Shoes," Supergirl said, closing the door and walking in front of Lena again.

"Shoes? I…" Lena nearly pointed out how far off track that was from their previous conversation, but she was happy to be gone from there. "You won't find any."

Nodding, Supergirl made her way to the door, speaking only when she reached it and not turning around. "I wondered if you were walking. They wouldn't let you walk in bedroom slippers."

"Ah." Lena nodded. "I'm not walking."

"Yet," the blonde said. "You're not walking yet." She paused, waiting for several heartbeats to see if there'd be a response.

"Yet," Lena finally agreed. "I'm not walking yet."

"But you will be," Supergirl said. "I'd just wondered if I'd missed it. I'd always assumed that I'd be here when…but that's not the important part. You never promised that. You never promised I'd be here when you walked out of here. You just promised you'd walk, and you'll keep that promise."

"I…I will. I'll walk out of here."

Supergirl nodded, walking past the woman in the wheelchair again. She lay a gentle hand on Lena's shoulder, drawing it down the woman's arm as she walked away. It reached Lena's wrist, down the woman's hand, and trailed along fingertips before losing contact.

As that warmth left her skin, Lena reached out. "Supergirl." The hero didn't respond, taking another step away, with her hand swinging with her opposite stride and Lena's entire body tightened at the growing distance. She lurched forward with her torso as best she could, unwilling to lose contact, though her legs and hips were still strapped in. Lena strained, reaching out only to fold forward as she called out, "Kara!"

"Here! I'm here," Kara said suddenly kneeling in front of Lena, holding her by the shoulders and gently pushing the dark-haired woman upright. "You've got to be careful. Don't strain your back."

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not. You need help, and I can help you. I can help you, and I can help protect you. You don't need to protect me." Lena tried to turn her face away, but Kara took that beautiful face in two strong hands and gently turned it back until they were facing each other again. "I'm going to ask you something, and I want you to tell me the truth. Did you reject me because you were trying to protect me?"

After a few hesitant moment, Lena admitted, "Yes."

Kara dropped her forehead to Lena's then lifted it and said, "That doesn't even make sense."

"Kara, my family has been trying to kill me since I've stepped foot in this city."

"I'm invulnerable."

"A fact they'll surely notice as soon as someone shoots you. I can't be romantically involved with a Super. It's not because you're an alien. It's not because I don't have feelings for you. It's because being with me makes you a target. Being with me will destroy your secret identity. For anyone to be involved with Lena Luthor is to throw away almost every last bit of their privacy. For you to do it means destroying the last vestiges of privacy remaining to you."

Kara considered that then said, "So date Supergirl."

"Right, because that won't get us both killed by my mother and crazy brother," Lena said with obvious sarcasm. "Kara, a relationship with me is a bad idea. A relationship with Supergirl isn't a good idea either. You put us together, and it's like…vigorous polymerization. Why are you smiling?"

"Because you made a science reference when you talked about a relationship between us. That means you like me, like me."

"Oh, good Lord. Are you even listening to me?"

Kara nodded. "Yup. You want to be with me. You're just worried it's going to get us killed."

"Yet for some reason, you're still smiling."

Smiling broadly, Kara stroked Lena's face. "Well, that's because I'm an optimist. I'm focusing on the part where we both want to be together. You're a pessimist, so you're focusing on the death part."

"Darling, I'm a realist. Dying is very realistic."

"No, dying is a given, Lena. Everybody dies eventually. So, how are we going to live until then? Are we going to give into the fear of your family? You always said you weren't going to do that. You wanted to change the world and people's view of your family's name. You've been brave. Let's not change that now."

"Kara, if anyone found out about our feelings, it would be catastrophic."

"Then we don't tell anyone."

Eyes narrowed, Lena said, "Explain."

Kara stood, shrugging. "Well, why do we have to tell anyone about us? I mean, I'm great with secret identities, so why not a secret relationship?"

"Kara, you're awful with secret identities. Your disguise is a pair of glasses and a hair tie. You could have bought a ski mask at a Mountain Resort a few minutes flight away. You made a costume. You couldn't make a mask?"

Kara rolled her eyes. "The glasses work for Superman."

"For Clark Kent?" Lena asked. She shook her head. "Perhaps Kryptonians are just less observant than humans."

"I'm not arguing about this."

"Good because you'll lose."

Lips tight, Kara let out the breath she was holding and said, "But we could have a relationship if we don't tell anyone, right? That would protect us. This isn't about us being together. This is about anyone knowing we're together, right?"

Lena considered, her eyes moving to the left while she thought that through. She looked back at Kara and asked, "You'd do that?"

"To be with you?" Kara smiled.

"But before, you were so upset when you thought I wanted you to pretend not to be Supergirl. You didn't want to lie about it."

"To you. I want you to know me. Lena, I hate lying. I'm not very good at it either. If I can be honest with you, if we can be honest with each other, that's what's important. I want to be able to share myself with you."

"So you want us to be completely honest with each other about everything?"

Kara's excitement was immediate, but then she deflated. "Actually, there's some work stuff I can't really share with you. It's…classified."

"My, my, CatCo classified secrets? I had no idea," Lena said with a grin. When Kara only smiled back, Lena added, "My work certainly has its own number of secrets, darling. I have contracts in place that keep me from disclosing information. Kara, there's no way I could ever be completely open with everyone about what I do on a more professional level."

"But on a personal level?" Kara asked.

"On a personal level, you already know my big secret. You've spoken to her."

"Uh…confession time," Kara said with a nervous smile. "She sent me a phone. I spoke to her again."

Blood running cold, Lena said, "She what?"

"It was secure," Kara assured the other woman. "I made sure. Well, I asked her. It looked the same to me. She was just kind of sarcastic about the question. Since I hadn't been here and I hadn't reached out to her—"

"She took matters into her own hands of course." Lena pinched the bridge of her nose. "I'm not going to live to see thirty. If it isn't my mother or brother who do me in, that girl will be the death of me. On my tombstone, I simply want my name, the date of my birth, the date of my death, and then either the word, prolicide, sororicide, or matricide depending on which one of them gets me."

Laughing, Kara knelt again. "You need to relax. Lori's good for you. I'm good for you too; you know that right?"

"I admit nothing."

"You admit you like me," Kara said with a smile.

Smiling back despite herself, Lena said, "Well now you're just gloating."

"So we're doing this? You, me, this thing, we're doing this?"

"No one can know," Lena said. "Actually, my daughter—"

"Oh, I want to tell Lori! Can we tell Lori?" Kara clapped.

"You are the worst secret keeper ever."

"I know," Kara whispered into her own hands that were folded in front of her like she was praying.

"How does all of National City not know who you are?"

"People don't see what they don't want to see. Supergirl is brave and confident. When I'm Kara, I'm not."

"I disagree." Lena put her hand on Kara's cheek. "You've always been my hero, Kara."

As her smile slowly grew, Kara said, "So, when you kissed me before, I was totally not ready for it. That wasn't fair."

"Well, I didn't intend to be unfair. How do we rectify that situation?"

"Take two?" Kara asked.

Lena nodded.

Holding up one finger, Kara looked over her shoulder before looking back at Lena. "Okay, the only one out there is Maggie. She's going through her phone. We're good."

"That's an entirely useful talent. How exactly does it work? It's called x-ray vision, but it's not actually an x-ray as we know it. Can you—?"

"Stop talking."

Kara leaned forward, pressing her lips against Lena's. Lena returned the kiss immediately. This was much better than the first time, both expecting and wanting this, both prepared, giving, sharing, loving, and meeting equally. Kara wasn't surprised by the shape and softness of a woman's mouth this time, but she was even more excited by this second experience. This time there was no doubt why they were kissing, what they both wanted.

Kara ran a hand along the back of Lena's neck. She held her friend close as if frightened this would end, and in some ways she was. Supergirl was brave, heroic, able to face down giant aliens and fleets of invaders while Kara was timid, awkward, and meek. The truth lie somewhere in between and she'd been living half-truths for so long that Kara wasn't even sure who she was sometimes. She ran her other hand down Lena's arm, feeling goosebumps rise along skin and feeling heartened by the physical response at her touch.

One of Lena's hands cupped Kara's jaw, feeling soft skin and a strong jawline which she traced with her thumb. There it was again, softness and strength wrapped into one, the complete package. She wondered if Kara had any idea how delicious this combination was, offering two extremely attractive extremes. Shuddering as Kara's touch caused goosebumps to rise along her skin, Lena moaned slightly into the blonde's mouth, leaning more firmly onto the growing kiss, and lifted her free hand to touch, meeting only uniform on the other woman's arm. Still, that was turn on, a reminder of who held her firmly by the back of the neck, the incredible power that held her fast but with such gentle care.

When Lena's tongue gently traced along Kara's bottom lip, the blonde shivered and opened her mouth slightly. Lena's tongue teased along that opening, meeting the tip of Kara's tongue. Warmth met warmth, dancing along each other sensually. Their mouths opened slightly wider as their tongues moved a bit deeper leaving a trail of heat within each other's mouths. The tongue continued to deepen as their mouths moved, their tongues explored, they clung to each other with pleading hands as if they were adrift in the ocean and their kisses were the very air itself.

Their kisses were not the air, quite the opposite in fact. All too soon for both of them, they pulled back, a bit breathless and far too excited for their surroundings and the close company they had outside. For both of them, it felt like the wall of a dam had been broken. One couldn't just stop the flow of emotions that had been released. Foreheads pressed together and panting, they both had so much to say it was difficult to know where to start, but it was Kara who spoke first.

"Damn," Kara grumbled, pulling her head back slightly.

"Wh…really?"

With a small laugh, the blonde shook her head. "No, not really, not the kiss. The kiss was damn, but like WOW, damn, like DAMN! I just heard Maggie outside, though. She's talking to someone, and she sounds upset. She said Supergirl. I think she's going to come in here and get me."

"Oh, damn."

"My sentiments exactly."

"Here," Lena said, rubbing at Kara's lips with her thumb. "This shade of lipstick doesn't go with the red in your suit."

"You're a little mussed too. Let me get that," Kara said rubbing at Lena's bottom lip.

"Better lipstick from now on. What I usually wear for work doesn't need to stand up to this sort of…workout," Lena said.

"Maybe we'll have to start wearing the same shade."

"Hmmm…there are tissues over on the nightstand. You should get one," Lena suggested. "My shade is darker than yours."

Suddenly Supergirl was on the other side of the room, wiping her lips. "Better?"

"Now blot, darling, blot," Lena suggested. "We're going to have to talk about this. We're going to have to talk about this, about who we do tell and if we tell anyone about us."

"There's an us?" Kara responded brightly.

"You need to learn to focus."

"You need to let me come back and talk to you. Am I going to have to sneak in through your window and then muscle my way past your nursing staff?"

Lena shook her head. "I'll update my list. Your name will be on it."

"Who?" Supergirl asked pointing to herself.

"Kara. I'll add you to the list, which will get Kalia to back off for which I'll be grateful. For some reason, that woman has been a tremendous annoyance about you. Question, how did you get a note—?"

There was a knock at the door, and it opened. Maggie stuck her head in. "Hey, sorry to interrupt, but I got a call. We got information on the plant Miss Luthor here received."

"So soon?" Lena asked.

Maggie nodded. "Between the selection of plants and an unusual soil mixture, we were able to track it down to a nursery at the outskirts of town. You interested in doing a ride-a-long Supergirl?"

"We're going to talk to a flower seller?"

Maggie shook her head. "The nursery closed two weeks ago."

"Oh, so we're going to bust in and hit someone?" Supergirl asked with much more excitement.

"Kind of like that. We're going on a stake out."

"Ugh!" Throwing back her head, the hero said, "I hate stakeouts."

"How much longer, Detective Sawyer?"

Detective Maggie Sawyer looked to her left at Supergirl and said, "Kid, surveillance is not a car trip. You can't ask, 'Are we there yet?' It doesn't work that way."

Maggie sat toward the front of the van, Supergirl on her left and another officer on Supergirl's left. Across from them were three other cops, all decked out in SWAT gear. They'd been sitting in the van for over forty minutes. They were too warm, trickles of sweat running down their backs and the backs of their necks. The van smelled like stale sweat and the grease from food that came in paper bags. The cops here were used to this environment. The Girl of Steel was used to action, and beyond that, her heart was aching. She hadn't seen or heard from Lena in four days.

Sighing loudly, Supergirl started to jiggle her leg just to do something. When the whole van began to shake, Maggie's hand slapped down on the knee suddenly.

"Sorry," Supergirl said contritely. "So, any good plans tonight Detective Sawyer?" Supergirl already knew the answer.

"Well, if I get out of work before midnight, I've got a date," Maggie replied, smiling up at Supergirl and showing off deep dimples.

"Oh, who with?" Supergirl asked, smiling back.

"That hot girlfriend of yours Sawyer?" The detective across from Supergirl asked with a laugh. "Hey, is she bi or gay, because I would hit that. If she was the nail, I would be the hammer. Am I right, guys?"

Supergirl stiffened, pushing up slightly in her seat and only stopping when Maggie's hand grabbed her arm.

"Erickson, you don't have the right tool for the job. The ladies talk and the way I hear it, your measuring tape only goes out about two and a half inches," Maggie said, still grinning.

"Hey, at least I don't keep my **tools** …," Erickson making little air quotes around the word tools. "In a toolbox, I got at Homo Depot."

"What did you say!?" Supergirl asked, jumping to her feet.

"Whoa!" Maggie jumped up also, grabbing the blonde by her arm. "Hey, Supergirl, relax. Sit back down."

"Did you hear what he said, Maggie?" Supergirl pointed across the van at the offending man.

"Kid, relax. Erickson's a friend. We joke with each other. He calls me a queer. I remind everyone we know that he's hung like my pinky finger. That's the kind of friendship we have. Hey, I know what you need. Look under your seat," Maggie sat, patting Supergirl on the arm.

"My seat?"

Maggie nodded. "You remember what I told you about stakeouts?"

"That they're boring?" Supergirl replied as she sat.

"Yes, but what else?"

Reaching under the seat, Supergirl immediately felt a flat cardboard box. Eyes widening and mouth watering, she pulled it out. It was white and orange, the word 'Dunkins' across the lid. "Donuts!"

"Yes, donuts. Cops eat—"

"Thank you!" Supergirl threw her free arm around Maggie, pulling her into a hug. "You're the best Maggie!"

Laughing, Maggie replied, "Don't break anything I might need later on tonight, kid. If you do, I'll send my girlfriend to hunt you down, and she's a bad ass FBI agent."

Laughing, Supergirl snuggled her head into Maggie's shoulder as she flipped open the lid of her donut box. Her eyes sparkled at the sight of fried, sugar-glazed goodness. "No you won't, Maggie. I'm too lovable."

Across from her, Supergirl heard Erickson whisper to another cop, "Is she the Girl of Steel, or the Girl of Rainbows?"

Suddenly, Supergirl had the cop pinned to the roof. Her hand held him by the top of his vest, and her face was inches from his as she said, "Does it matter?"

"Put him down! Put him down!" Maggie yelled, pulling on Supergirl's wrist though it did nothing. The cops all stood around, hands on their weapons, though the only thing they could do was hurt each other in such close quarters. "Kid, drop him!" Maggie was using her forearm to punch Supergirl's, a fact that she knew would give her bruises but she hoped would at least get the blonde's attention.

"But he's a—!"

"Idiot," Maggie said, patting the superhero's arm now that she'd gotten the blonde's attention. "He's just an idiot. You're just hangry, kid. Drop him."

Blowing out air angrily through her nose, Kara tossed the man back into his bench seat before grabbing her donut box from where she dropped it on the floor, then retaking her own seat.

Shaking her head, Maggie said, "Seriously Erickson, how does a guy with such a little dick have such big feet and still fit them in his mouth? Stop pissing off the girl who can juggle busses." She sat down next to the hero, hand on Supergirl's shoulder. "You okay? This just hunger, or is something else going on? Things were a bit tense when we left the hospital. Want to talk to me about it?"

Chomping on a cruller, Supergirl was thoughtful for a moment. "The hospital…no, nothing to talk about there. I guess that's just the way things are going to be. Stick a fork in it. It's done, you know?"

"You're throwing in the towel?" Maggie shook her head. "That doesn't sound like you. You have enough hope for twenty people. You have enough hope for this whole city. What's up?"

"Nothing? What could be up? There's nothing up. I just…" Sticking more food in her mouth, she mumbled. "Mmmm…so hungry."

"You're too hungry to talk about this?"

"Well…" Supergirl leaned in close to Maggie again and whispered, "Mixed company. This is a sort of personal discussion."

"Okay, well I'm here whenever you're ready to talk. Alex hasn't said you're talking to her about this much. I think she's worried about you. I know how closely you work with the FBI. You should talk to her."

"I will. Thank you," Supergirl said, relaxing slightly and putting her head on Maggie's shoulder. She finished her cruller, grabbing something chocolate and covered in sprinkles. "Mmmm, sprinkles. Slippers."

Looking into the box of donuts, Maggie said, "Huh?"

"She's still wearing slippers."

"Alex?" Maggie asked, angling her head around as she tried to make eye contact with the blonde on her shoulder.

"No, today while we were in the hospital. They don't let you try to walk until you're wearing sneakers." Supergirl shoved more donut in her mouth, finishing off the chocolate one. "I'm thirsty. Coffee?"

Shrugging off Supergirl's head, Maggie reached over to the box of Joe on her right and poured a cup of coffee into one of the paper cups, adding cream and sugar. "Here. Need a foot massage too?"

"Maybe later if it won't interfere with your date," Supergirl said with a grin. "You think Alex would mind?"

"I think the FBI has access to Kryptonite bullets. We better not see your ass tonight," Maggie replied.

Taking a big bite of a powdered sugar donut, Supergirl gave Maggie a kiss on the cheek leaving white residue all over the detective's face.

"You jerk!" Maggie said, wiping her cheek but smiling. "You got it on my vest. This stuff is like glitter. Ugh. That's it. I'm going to glitter bomb your uniform one day. I don't know when, but one day you're going to go into battle looking like a kindergarten arts and crafts project."

Supergirl laughed, the rest of her donut having disappeared down her gullet while amid Maggie's threats. She drank some coffee and said, "You're funny, Detective. You know what I hope for you?"

"Does it involve more donuts?" Maggie asked rather aimlessly as she tried to brush off white powder that hung to the fabric over Kevlar. "Man, I look like I've been snorting coke. Guys, does this look like coke?"

There was nodding, and Erickson said, "Looks like you've been hitting up the evidence lockup, Sawyer."

"Damn it," Maggie mumbled.

"I hope you and Agent Danvers get married," Supergirl said.

Maggie froze, her humor, her fussing, everything gone at those word. It wasn't the idea, more a memory of a conversation and the fear that perhaps the blonde had heard part of it after all. Her hand still hovering above her vest, her head slowly turned to look up at the superhero. "What?"

Supergirl nodded. "You're funny and sweet but also incredibly loyal. Agent Danvers is loyal too, incredibly loyal, but she's too serious sometimes…a lot of times. She needs you. Maybe you need her too. Maybe you need someone who will never give up on you. That's Alex. I hope you two get married." A smile slowly growing on her face, Supergirl nudged the detective gently with her elbow. "If I got an invitation to the wedding, I'd show up."

"We…wed…wedding?" Maggie stuttered out.

"Wow," Supergirl said slowly. "Fear of commitment much? It's different when it's the right girl, you know."

Suddenly Maggie's cellphone rang, making her jump. She pulled it out of its holder. "Sawyer." She nodded, pulling out her earbuds and clicking on the Bluetooth connection. She put the earbud in her ear, nodding again as she dropped the phone back into its holder, then spoke back to the van full of people. "They've arrived. Let's move into position. No one enters until our man inside gives the code word." As the back of the van opened, and people started to file out, she grabbed Supergirl's arm. "Hey, I don't care what you hear. I don't care what you see inside. This is an NCPD op and you've been invited to join us. You follow our lead and do this by the book. While we're here, you work for me or you go home, understand?"

Brow furrowing, Supergirl nodded. Understanding and liking were two different things.

Five cops and a superhero made their way to an alley with a reinforced door. They lined up, three on each side of the door. Maggie stood on the side of the hinges with two cops behind her, and Supergirl stood on the side with the handle, two cops behind her. Maggie pointed at Supergirl, her own eyes, the door, then all around the building. They had discussed it before. Supergirl was supposed to scan the area for people, explosives, lead, Kryptonite, anything dangerous to those entering, those inside, or the general populace.

The scan of the door revealed an explosive on the other side of the door with a wire that would trigger it if the door was opened more than a few inches. Supergirl explored the mechanism of the bomb for a minute, just to make sure there wasn't a second trigger if the wire was cut, but there wasn't. Crossing the doorway, she explained this to Maggie and in whispered discussion they agreed to disarm it. Heat vision through the door quickly did away with the threat. There were similar explosives on other doors, but avoiding those would work until the bomb squad could come in.

They waited for several minutes, agonizingly long minutes when you're a superhero until Maggie gave the signal to move out. Supergirl did a quick x-ray to confirm where people were inside, then snapped the door open and the group moved in. When they took fire from the opposite side, Supergirl used her heat vision to break supports and leave people suddenly hanging on the railings. Then she was down to the main area between the inside man and everyone else. The entire combat took less than a minute with a few well-struck punches and some freeze breath.

"You didn't leave any for us?" Maggie asked as she and her group arrived on the main floor.

"That one is still conscious," Supergirl said gently kicking one with a boot.

"No, he's just moaning. I don't think he's really conscious. Whatever. Let's just cuff them. Good work kid."

"Can I get the rest of my donuts?" Supergirl asked.

"You can go for all I care. We'll bring the bomb squad in here to deal with clean up unless you see anything else in here that's a problem.

Supergirl looked around. There was a table set up with some nice computer equipment. Along one wall were several crates. X-raying them showed an array of weapons inside.

"You've got a selection of weapons inside those boxes," Supergirl pointed out.

"What kind of weapons?" Maggie asked.

Shrugging, Supergirl replied, "Long ones. I don't know. I punch things."

Maggie started to look around.

"What are you looking for?"

"A crowbar," Maggie replied. "I want to pop one of those crates open."

"Ahem." Supergirl popped the top open on one of the crates without effort.

"Right. I'm not used to having a Swiss Army knife in a skirt riding shotgun."

"I also do windows," Supergirl said with a grin.

"Great, come over to my place anytime," Maggie replied, then turning back she added. "Anytime I don't have a date." Maggie pulled a few weapons out of the crate lying them on a nearby table. She exhaled heavily, shaking her head.

"What's wrong, Detective Sawyer?" The hero asked.

"We're here following up on a Lillian Luthor tip."

"I know. I was there when you got the tip. That's why I'm here."

"These weapons, I've seen some of them before. They belong to the ultra-gang. Looks like we know who's behind it."

"Lillian," Supergirl breathed. "Don't tell Lena."

"Hey, this is all classified police business. You don't tell Lena."

Supergirl took just a moment to think about Lena, then turned back to the group of men they had just captured and asked, "Who's in charge here!?" She strode across the room at them though none of them had answered. "I want to know who's in charge."

"What are you doing kid?" Maggie asked going after the hero.

Ignoring the detective, Supergirl focused on the heartbeats of the crooks. They were still fairly beaten up, some of them just coming around. One of their hearts beat faster than the others. She grabbed him, picking him up and holding the man to her face. "Where's Lillian Luthor?"

"Who?" He asked.

"Supergirl put him down. That isn't how this works," Maggie said. "We follow the law."

"No, you follow the law," Supergirl replied, disappearing with the man.

"Aw, fuck me," Maggie said, staring at an empty space.

Standing on the edge of the roof, Supergirl held the man several stories above the street as she said, "I hate repeating myself. Where's Lillian Luthor."

"I don't know who that is."

"Do you think you'll remember before you hit the ground?"

"You're bluffing. You won't drooooooo—"

Supergirl caught him around the second floor and continued down another floor with him in her arms before returning to the roof. "Do you remember now?"

"I don't know! I don't know that name! There's a woman, pretty, older, always looks like she's smelling something bad."

Nodding, Supergirl said, "Lillian. Where is she?"

"I don't know." When he was held over the lip of the roof again, he said, "I swear I don't know! She reaches out to me and sends me an address. Then I meet her there."

"What address?"

"It's different every time. I swear it's different! Don't drop me!"

Supergirl nodded. "How does she reach out to you?"

"There's a pager in my right-hand pocket. She sends me an address, and I head over there."

Supergirl rummaged through the man's right-hand pocket, coming away with a pager. Looking through it showed some addresses, but nothing else. "How often do these come?"

He shrugged. "Every few days, maybe four or five. I got one two days ago. I went there and picked up some weapons and got the job we were supposed to do."

Pulling him back into her, Supergirl said, "So here's what's going to happen. You're going to confess to the cops. You can get a lawyer if you want one. Everyone gets a lawyer in this country. Feel free to cop a plea. You can sell Lillian Luthor down the river. They'll show you a picture of her. You don't go sending her any messages. If her people try and contact you, tell the cops. We'll get you protection. Oh, and don't go telling them about the pager, understand?"

"Don't tell the cops about the pager?" As Supergirl's eyes widened, the man nodded. "Just checking. I can do that."

"Good. Let's go bring you back to Detective Sawyer. You and she are going to be friends. You're going to tell her anything she wants to hear right?"

"Anything, everything, uh…except about the pager. There is no pager."

"Smart boy," Supergirl said, taking to the air and landing fairly gently on the ground near Maggie.

"Where'd you go?" Maggie asked, her mouth tight and hands in a fist.

"We had to have a private conversation, but he's all yours," Supergirl said, pushing the thug forward. "He's seen Lillian, and I think he's ready to make a full confession."

"It's worthless if he was coerced," Maggie said. "What did you do?"

"Were you coerced?" Supergirl asked.

"Nope," the man answered immediately. "I just want to do my civic duty. I've seen the light."

"Sure you have," Maggie said with a sigh as she looked back at the hero. "This better hold up. We do things by the book here. You're supposed to be working with us."

"Well, have a good date, Detective Sawyer. I've got to go, uh, condition my hair."

"Condition your hair?"

Supergirl nodded. "If my ends split, it's nearly impossible to find a hairdresser with scissors that can cut this." Supergirl took off into the air, coming back about three seconds later.

"Forget something?" Maggie asked.

Disappearing into the van, Supergirl popped back out with a box in her hand. "Donuts. Bye!" Then she was gone again, leaving a shower of powdered sugar raining down below her.

"God damn superhero!" Maggie yelled from below.


	23. 23-Tick-Tock

It had been two days since Kara and Lena had literally kissed and made up. Kara had been stopping in for lunch every day. Then the door would stay open, and the two women would keep their distance, Lena's body language stiff and Kara acting her meek self. Dinner time included a closed door and closer quarters. Kalia seemed content to make herself scarce during Kara's visits, and both Kara and Lena knew the night nurse was encouraging them toward a relationship. At this point, she seemed to be of the 'don't ask don't tell' mindset.

Lena was progressing with therapy. She was doing exercises in her wheelchair, the extent of which were her moving and lifting her legs with assistance while seated. She could sit without the straps, but she still used them when she became tired. She did therapy twice a day, sitting up as much as she could and working. Her usual ten to fourteen hour work days had dwindled down to far fewer and were leaving her exhausted instead of tired. The amount of healing she was doing was tapping her out quickly.

Kara stepped into the hospital room, closing and locking the door behind her. She smiled down at Lena who was sitting in a wheelchair and typing on her laptop on a tray. "Well, hello there pretty lady."

Lena looked at the time on her laptop. "Dinner time already? I swear it was only 3:00 o'clock twenty minutes ago. I have so much work piled up. I don't think I'll ever dig out of this hole."

"Well, you can grab your shovel and start digging again in the morning because I brought food!" Kara said with a broad smile as she held up a bag from Noonan's.

"Ah." Lena nodded. "Well, my broth and jello aren't here yet. Could you ask Kalia to get my dinner please?"

"No, I brought food for both of us," Kara replied, setting the bag on the floor

"Noonan's has jello?"

"Uh…actually no, but they have soup." Kara said, pulling containers out of the bag. One was a soup container with a lid. "It's noodle soup with dumplings."

Head tilted forward, Lena stared for several seconds before saying, "Do they know you brought actual food to me?"

Giggling, Kara nodded. "It was Kalia's idea. Apparently, you're doing really well. You're upright most of the time, and…uh…things are working the way they're supposed to work down there. You know, down there, right?"

Lena rolled her eyes.

"Right, you know. So Kalia called me and said, 'Hey Goldilocks, our patient can eat something besides broth. How about you bring her some soup with a little something in it. Don't get her anything too rich.' So I said since I was Goldilocks, she must be a grumpy bear. I asked which bear she was. She said she was the one who didn't want the soup too hot or too cold for her patient, so I better get it just right. Then she hung up on me." Kara was smiling. "You know when Snapper calls me a nickname like that it pisses me off, but I like it when Kalia does it."

"Oh, be sure to tell her that. I'm sure she'll be quite pleased," Lena said with a hint of a smile. "Also, hugs. I have it on good authority she's awfully fond of physical affection."

"Awesome!" Kara said, pulling out several food containers for herself. "So, how about we put you into bed to eat. You know you're going to fall asleep after you eat."

"I might stay awake for a little bit."

"Ten minutes tops," Kara said with a grin as she pulled back the blankets then moved the table from in front of Lena. She lifted Lena effortlessly and put the woman onto one side of the bed.

"You'll sit with me?"

"Always," Kara said.

She set their food on the long tray that went over the bed and then climbed onto the bed next to Lena. Together they sat and ate, both talking about their work for the day. It was incredibly comfortable, familial. It was a reminder of all of the lunches they'd shared for so many months. It was a promise of so much more to come.

"How was your soup?" Kara asked as she finished off her third meal.

"Incredible and incredibly filling. My stomach must be the size of a golf ball after all these weeks. I can't even eat this last dumpling. I feel awful about that but..." Suddenly the dumpling was gone from her container. She looked over at Kara who sat with an innocent look on her face. "Really Kara? You ate three of your own meals."

"What? Waste not want not."

"Oh, so you're not wanting for anything?"

"Well, not food for at least another twenty minutes," She replied leaning in and kissing the other woman. The kiss was brief but left them both smiling. "You want to get ready for bed?"

"Not really, but I should. I hate to admit it, but I'm already getting a bit sleepy."

Kara pushed the table away, getting up and gathering all of their food containers into the Noonans' bag. When she turned, Lena was already sitting on the side of the bed.

"Hey there! Careful."

"I'm fine. Don't fuss," Lena said as Kara came around to the side of the bed with her wheelchair.

"You could fall."

"I'm fully capable of sitting up, Kara. I do it daily without you around."

"Yeah, but—"

"Kara, you need to leave me be. I have nurses. I have doctors. I have plenty of caregivers. I'm a fully capable adult. Please trust me to know my limits. Something as simple as sitting on the side of the bed is well within them."

Sitting next to Lena, Kara spoke to the woman but looked at her own hands. "To be fair, you've always pushed your own limits. You've always acted like you have something to prove. You don't. You're spectacular. Being you, being Lena, is enough. Do you understand that?"

Laying her head on Kara's shoulder, Lena replied, "It never was for anyone before you."

Kara tilted her head left, pressing it against Lena's and rubbing her check against silky hair. "Well, then I'm just going to have to keep loving you until you're enough for yourself. That's what really matters."

Lena sighed, and they sat like that for about a minute before the smaller woman said, "I really do need to use the restroom and get ready for bed, or I'll fall asleep out here with unbrushed teeth and have to get up in the middle of the night to use the facilities."

"Well, we wouldn't want you to have to use the _facilities_ in the middle of the night," Kara said with a touch of mockery, though she was smiling good-naturedly. "Let me help you into the wheelchair.

"I can do it myself."

"I know, and I'm sure you do it all the time when I'm not here. Let me feel useful…please?"

"Fine," Lena finally agreed. "This is a favor to you."

"Agreed, and I owe you," Kara replied as she lifted Lena into the wheelchair. Can I—"

Lena wheeled herself around, moving toward the bathroom. "I've got this."

"Can I at least get the door?" Kara asked moving ahead, hand on the door handle, resting there but not opening until Lena nodded. "Thanks for making me feel useful. Do you need help with…anything?"

"I'll be fine."

"Well if you need…anything I'll be…" Kara stood awkwardly on the outside of the door while Lena maneuvered herself in front of the sink.

"I'll be fine. You're not here during the days when I use the facilities. I need to be able to do these things for myself. Close the door please," Lena said, waving the back of her hand at the blonde.

Kara nodded, smiling in a way that didn't reach her eyes as she closed the door. She hovered, though not literally, outside just in case she was needed. Knowing that Lena would have to struggle to reach things, could fall if she dropped something and had to pick it up from the ground, would have to use every bit of her strength just to use the toilet, this pulled at Kara. It was loving someone and wanting to help them. It was the hero in her that had devoted her life to helping everyone in National City. It was also guilt, knowing that you were bulletproof and someone else struggled to do daily tasks because they were shot instead of you. Because of all of these things, Kara stood with her fingers unconsciously curling in and out as she fought the urge to rush past the door and give unwanted aid to someone she loved. Though she'd carried several tons on her back, doing nothing was taking much more strength.

When Kara heard the sound of a toilet lid close, and then the toilet flush she was directly at the door, a hand on either side of the frame. "Are you done? Can I open the door?"

"Relax," Lena replied. There were several quiet moments where the wheelchair moved about and then the sound of water running. "I'm washing up."

"Oh," Kara said with obvious disappointment in her voice. "Well, let me know when you're done. I'll open the door for you. I'm right here whenever you need me."

The water turned off, and Lena said, "Kara would you come in here please?"

"What do you need?" Kara asked, in the room immediately.

"I dropped my hand towel," Lena replied, pointing down and to her left. "I must have left my grabber in the other room. I could probably reach it but—"

"No! Absolutely not! You never reach down when you're in your wheelchair," Kara said picking up the hand towel and holding it out to Lena. "You want to get out of here, and a fall could cost you a day or two. You know that."

"Which is why I called you," Lena said in her own defense. She dried her hands, lying the towel down on its place on the side of the sink

"Thank you for calling me," Kara replied kissing Lena on the cheek as she came behind the woman and pulled back the wheelchair. "Hey, here's your grabber in the bag on the back of your wheelchair. Can you reach it?"

"Hmmm?" Lena looked over her right shoulder. "Oh, there it is. I thought it was on my left side. I looked there and didn't see it. Silly me. Thank you for finding it."

"Hey, I'll do anything for you. You know that right? I love being useful."

Lena smiled up at the blonde. "Oh, I've noticed. You are incredibly helpful. I'm grateful." As they entered the main room again, Lena said, "Kara, there is one thing about which I wanted to speak with you."

"Should I be worried?"

"Quite the opposite." Lena pointed to the corner. There were metal braces with Velcro straps propped up in one corner.

"Are those for exercises or so…?"

"With those, I can begin walking. They fitted me with them at PT today and asked me to take a few steps. They feel my strength and balance are—"

"You walked today!?" Kara was equal parts hopeful and hurt.

"No," Lena answered succinctly. "I told them not today. I said I was too tired, but in truth, since tomorrow is Saturday, I was hoping you could come to my PT, and I could try it then. Would you…be able to…do so?"

The way Lena's voice petered out at the end, trailing off and showing her hesitancy, her lack of faith in herself, in them, it tugged at Kara's heartstrings. She moved around, kneeling in front of Lena and taking the woman's hands, placing them on her own face. Then she took Lena's face in her hands and said. "Without question. I would have been here today if I'd known. Just call me. Anytime sweetie, just call me."

"I didn't want to bother you at work. You've already wasted so much time with—"

"Don't use that word."

"Work?" Lena asked, confused.

"Wasted," Kara clarified. "There's not a moment that we've spent together that I consider wasted. Our time together is…" Kara searched for the right word.

"An investment," Lena suggested.

"Now that's the capitalist in you speaking, but I like it. How are your returns on this investment, Miss Luthor?" Kara asked with a smile.

"Come closer, and I'll show you, Miss Danvers," Lena replied.

They kissed, gentle little kisses at first though it deepened. Then Kara slid a hand under Lena's legs, lifting the woman and carrying her off to bed. She placed Lena on the near side, hopping over her and slowly floating down to land next to her.

"You have the best tricks," Lena said as Kara slid under the covers.

"I'm tricky," Kara agreed, snuggling in closer while Lena lowered the head down, so they were lying down.

"The lights are still on."

"Doh!" Kara was gone and back before the blankets had really settled, the light flicking off.

"Very tricky," Lena said with a smile.

"Mmmm." Curling up against Lena, Kara turned the other woman's head away from hers and began to kiss Lena's neck. "You taste delicious."

"Do I now?" Lena replied with a grin. "And here I thought you'd be full after eating three dinners and my dumpling."

Sliding her hand under Lena's pajama shirt, Kara walked her fingers up the woman's abdomen and said, "Well technically, I haven't eaten your dumpling yet."

Lena's hand came down hard on Kara's, slapping though she knew she couldn't hurt the girl of steel. "You've got Roman Fingers, Miss Danvers."

"We're in a hospital room," Kara said, kissing along Lena's jawline. "Don't tell me that isn't on your bucket list."

With a snort, Lena mumbled, "As if I haven't had sex in a hospital room."

"You've had sex in a hospital room already?" Kara asked sadly.

"Damn it," Lena said with a sigh, looking back at Kara. "I keep forgetting how good your hearing is. Kara, darling, don't pout. Look, given your job and my family, odds are we'll be back in a hospital within the year. We'll have more opportunities."

"You really think so?" Kara said perking up.

"You are the most bloody optimistic person I know," Lena replied. "Yes, I'm sure one of us will have another near death experience soon. Does that make you feel better?"

"Oddly, yes. So…we need to wait?" Kara asked, her fingers making little circles on Lena's abdomen.

"Kara, I adore you, but I have nowhere near full use of my legs, and I haven't shaven them in weeks. I'm hardly on equal footing when it comes to partnership. The extent of our interaction will continue to be talking, cuddling, and some light making out for the foreseeable future. Agreed?"

"Well," Kara's hand slid down Lena's abdomen. "I have an idea. How about kiss I kiss am here kiss for you kiss."

When one of Kara's fingers played back and forth just under the band of Lena's pajama pants, Lena tensed saying, "Remove your finger or I'll get a Kryptonite scalpel and remove it for you."

"Whoa!" Jerking her hand away, Kara said, "Sorry, sorry. Didn't mean to overstep there. Lena, I don't care if you've shaved or what you can do. I just want to take care of you. I want you."

"Thank you, but I care. Kara, I don't feel very much myself still. I need time. This isn't about you. It's about me. Please respect that."

"Okay," Kara said cuddling up against Lena again. "I just want you to know that you're beautiful and sexy as hell. I don't know what you see, but you're hot."

Her lips curling into a smile, Lena replied, "And you are incredibly good for my ego."

"Can we make out for a little while, just until you get sleepy?" Kara asked pushing herself up onto her elbow.

"It will probably be a very little bit," Lena admitted.

"There's no such thing as enough time with you, and no such thing as too little to not be worth the trip," Kara replied, kissing Lena again.

They kissed, Kara's body partially on Lena's but carefully so. There was always the concern with Lena's healing that they could get carried away and she could get hurt. She was getting better and stronger all the time. Her bones were fine, her muscles just weaker from lack of use. Right now it was nerves figuring out how to do their jobs again, signals having to be sent to places they hadn't been sent in weeks. Though Lena believed she had full feeling, they were taking it easy until she had full use and strength again.

One of Kara's legs over Lena's body's and their upper torsos entwined, the couple was making out like a couple of horny teenagers. They were running hands over each other's bodies, though above close.

Suddenly Lena tensed and pulled back. "Kara, why is your pocket vibrating? What were you planning?"

"My pocket vi— Oh! My pocket is vibrating," Kara said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small, black rectangle. "It's my pager."

"You have a pager?" Lifting one eyebrow, Lena stared at the blonde. "Why do you have a pager? What is this, 1988? You weren't even on this planet in 1988? I wasn't even born in 1988. You weren't even born in 1988, well Earth, 1988."

"Heh, funny story about that," Kara began, then got sidetracked as she looked at the pager and saw an address shown on the display. "Uh, it will have to wait until later. I've got to go."

"Emergency reporter business?" Lena said with unhidden sarcasm.

"That's a need to know."

"And I don't need to know," Lena finished up the quote. "All right, just be safe."

"I will be," Kara said pulling off her glasses, popping open the buttons on her shirt, and heading to the window.

"Kara, door," Lena reminded the blonde. "You came in through the door. You need to leave through the door."

"Yeah, but I have to—"

"Door," Lena repeated.

Sighing, Kara put her glasses back on and rebuttoning her shirt. "Fine. There will be times I just have to fly off though. Sometimes you'll just have to figure it out."

"Not tonight though."

"No, not tonight," Kara said giving Lena a kiss on the temple. "I love you."

"Be safe," Lena replied.

Kara flew with great haste to a warehouse in a fairly remote part of the city. This place practically screamed 'Secret Badguy Hideout.' Apparently, there was a good reason if Lillian Luthor was using it to set up meetings with her thugs. Supergirl had a surprise in store for her though. Instead of said thug showing up, Lillian would be meeting with National City's resident superhero. The hero scanned the area not seeing anyone suspicious around. The warehouse showed a lot of high tech equipment. There were some crates of weapons, but no booby traps this time. One lone figure sat at a table in front of several computer monitors, tapping away at the keys. A further examination showed it was the woman of the hour: Lillian Luthor.

Crashing through the roof, Supergirl came to a rather dramatic landing on the floor of the warehouse. Debris rained down around her, but she stood strong and steady, hands on hips and head thrown back. Several large computer banks lined one area, and on a raised platform was a U-shaped table with a series of monitors. In front of those monitors, her back to our heroine, sat the lone figure Supergirl had seen from above. Even after the rather obvious and superheroic entrance, the woman neither turned nor even flinched. That was because the only thing that kept this woman from gonging when walking was that brass balls are only metaphorical.

Striding up onto the platform, Supergirl extending her arm and announced, "It's over Lillian! I'm taking you in!"

Slowly, rather deliberately, Lillian Luthor turned away from the monitors that showed various criminal endeavors going on across National City. "Supergirl, well this is a…" She looked up at the roof. "You know this place has a door, two actually. It even has a skylight, and it's open. What do you Supers have against using preconstructed portals?"

"I'm not here for banter, Lillian. I'm here to take you in. Are you going to come quietly?" Supergirl was hoping the answer would be no. She didn't think Lillian Luthor would so much as chip a nail in her own defense, but a girl could dream.

"No, I'm serious here. Is your day job as a roofer? Do you sell construction material? Maybe it's some kind of insurance scam," Lillian added.

"Enough!" Supergirl added, suddenly directly in front of the woman, gripping both of her chair arms. "We're done here."

"Oh, that's right. You're a reporter," Lillian said, her smile slowly growing.

Supergirl felt her heart skip even as her mouth went dry. Lillian knew who she was. Lillian…no. It was a test. Lillian was only testing her. Trying to not let her face betray her panic, Supergirl replied, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Really? Then you don't know him, do you?" Clicking a button on a remote in her hand caused one of the images on the monitor that was now behind Lillian to change.

Kara's eyes went wide. What had previous been a screen showing men unloaded crates of guns at the docks was now James Olsen in his office. He was staring right into the camera, as if he knew it was there, staring and smiling. Then he looked down at a piece of paper in front of him, then back at the camera.

"What…what is that?" Supergirl asked.

"Oh, would you like volume? Movies are always better with volume, aren't they? I'm sorry that I'm out of popcorn," Lillian added holding down another button while a green number increased on the screen and voices became clearer.

James said, "Well, you came very highly recommended."

Another voice laughed then said, "The bribes must be working then."

As the volume was muted, Kara turned back to Lillian and asked, "What's going on?"

"An after-hours interview at CatCo," Lillian replied. "Have you heard of it? Perhaps you know her." When Lillian pushed another button, it changed a monitor to show the interior of a van. There were cops in body armor and directly across from the armor sat Maggie.

As the volume came on Maggie said, "I wouldn't do that if you dipped it in beer and covered it in honey, Michaelson." There was a lot of laughter, and then Maggie leaned toward the camera, slapping out with her hand and said, "Relax, Rookie, this won't be a bad raid. Just chill out until we get the word. Come on. Tell us why you got into the glamorous world of the NCPD."

The volume was muted again, and Kara said, "They're people, the cameras, they're people."

"People are wearing the cameras, yes Supergirl. That is your name, isn't it, Supergirl? You don't actually know either of these people, do you?"

"I…James Olsen is a photographer from Metropolis. He's taken many pictures of my cousin. I know Detective Sawyer. I know many of the police here. Why does that matter?"

"Ah." Lillian nodded. "Of course. It would make sense that you'd know them both. Other people, though, other people you wouldn't know. Take him for instance." Lillian pushed the button again and a monitor change to Winn's image. He was sitting across from someone and smiling eagerly.

The volume spiked, and he nodded, saying, "You're sure you can get them, mint in the box?"

"Absolutely," another voice replied, the camera moving up and down as the other person obviously nodded. "You sure you can get me director's cuts?"

"Pheh. Easy," Winn replied. "I need to see images. You show me yours; I'll show you mine."

Again the volume cut away, and there was Lillian's grinning face looking up at Kara's as she said, "I can tell by your face that he's a complete stranger, as is she, I'm certain."

Kara whipped her head to the side just in time to see Alex sitting quietly, at a distance, the image coming into closer view. Her sister was at a large, wooden table, high bookshelves behind Alex.

Whoever was moving seemed to sit, and then there was a noise like something banging. It shouldn't have been so loud but it echoed in the silence, and Alex looked up abruptly at the person who was now sitting across from her.

"Sorry," the person whispered.

Smiling, Alex nodded then put her head back down, returning to her reading.

"Alex," Supergirl also whispered, not able to stop herself.

"You know, I was going to say that I saw a family resemblance with you two, but I don't. You don't look like sisters. If I didn't know any better, I would say you weren't even from the same planet," Lillian quipped, her mouth in an evil grin.

"What do you want, Lillian!?" Supergirl yelled, bending the arms of the chair under her hands.

"Patience, darling. We're not done. I saved the best for last. Well, my favorite at least." Lillian hit the button, and one more monitor changed, showing a stark room. It was rather harshly lit and white walls, white ceiling. Kara didn't recognize it immediately, and then the camera view changed, taking in the bed to the left and the occupant as the person who wore the camera fixed a blanket.

"…Lena."

Lena lay in bed obviously asleep. The camera stayed on her, then a hand pulled back a sleeve and checked a wrist. Kara noticed motion on all of the screens and saw they were all doing the same thing.

"What's happening? Lillian, what's going on?"

"Well now, that all depends on you. It all depends on who you are. If you're just some demented roofer, hell bent on increasing your job sites one villain's lair at a time; then these people are about to all die. However, if you're who I think you are, then you can save them."

"It doesn't matter who they are. I'd save them no matter what. I'm Supergirl. That's what I do."

"True," Lillian admitted. "However, if you're not who I think you are, then you won't know how to find these people. They're all at places that only someone who knows them very well would know. So, the question remains, who are you?"

Kara looked at the screens, at each person, her heart racing. "You wouldn't hurt your own daughter."

"Oh, wouldn't I, because I've never left her for dead before?" Lillian lifted a perfectly sculpted brow as she watched that memory play out over Supergirl's face. "She isn't my child. My beautiful boy is rotting in jail while Lionel's bastard is running what should have been Lex's company. She means nothing to me."

"But…but you helped her. When someone shot her, you found out who it was so he could be brought to justice."

"My God, you're thick. I mean the hair, the blue eyes, the smile, the tights, the muscles…" Lillian rolled her hand in front of herself. "I can understand the appeal if you're into all of that, but for all of Lena's shortcomings, she's also brilliant. How can she stand to be around you? Tell me now, is her pet name for you Osmium?"

"Osmium…what?"

With a disgusted sigh, Lillian said, "It's an element, the densest naturally occurring one on Earth. Oh, maybe that's the problem. You're not naturally occurring, are you? What's the densest element on Krypton? Is it called Kara?"

Grabbing Lillian by the upper arms, Supergirl lifted her into the air and held her, so she was looking up at the woman. "I could rip you apart with my bare hands right now, and no one would ever know!"

"You're right," Lillian replied as if she hadn't a concern in the world. "You could do that, and then there would be six of us dead. However, if you want to save your friends lives, you'll put me down and open that draw."

Supergirl followed Lillian's gaze to the desk, seeing a simple drawer there. She was expecting Kryptonite and used her x-ray vision to see inside. Instead, there was something that looked about the size and shape of her forearm, something like a bracer. It was made of metal and electronics, but she didn't see anything dangerous. She scanned the area looking for Kryptonite anywhere, any sort of triggers, but she found none.

Dropping Lillian to the chair with a vaguely satisfying thud, Supergirl pulled open the drawer and pulled out what did look like a full arm bracer. It was fashioned from steel, bronze, leather glass for five displays, and had electronics inside it.

"What is this?" Supergirl asked.

"Put it on."

"Why?"

"If you want to save their lives, put it on," Lillian repeated.

Looking at her friends, her family, and seeing no danger in this item, Supergirl complied.

"Now, here's how this is going to play out," Lillian began. "You can either take me into the police, and be the hero that caught Lillian Luthor, or you can race around town and save these people. Those sitting across from them will kill them if you don't arrive in time."

"In time?"

Lillian touched a button and names appeared at the top of each screen on her bracer and times below. The times were all different. They went in this order from least time to greatest: James, Winn, Alex, Maggie, and Lena.

"What the hell does this mean!?" Supergirl demanded, holding out her arm at Lillian.

"That's the countdown clock for your friends' lives. When those clocks hit zero, your friends will be killed. So, you should make wise choices about the order that you choose to rescue people, hero. You don't have a lot of time. I've done calculations of your flight speed under extreme conditions. Based on where everyone is, I believe you can do this. Of course, if you wanted to only rescue four of them, it would be a piece of cake for you. Then you wouldn't have to worry that you might lose someone…say the last person." Slowly, Lillian's smile grew again. "So, what's it going to be hero? Which one of these people is disposable?"

"None of them!"

Lillian hit a button, and there was a beep. Suddenly the timers on Supergirl's bracer started to countdown all at once. Eyes wide, she looked up at Lillian as her heart began to pound.

Still smiling, Lillian said, "Tick-tock."


	24. 24-You Can't Save Them All

It was a trap. It had all been a trap. Lillian had sent the flowers to Lena to draw then them the closed florist. She'd wanted Kara to get the pager, wanted Kara to get the address and show up alone. This was all part of Lillian's little game, proof of Supergirl's identity, maybe something more. Lillian held all the cards and for how long? Kara was now looking at things Lena's way, realizing that Lillian had used Supergirl to clear out the other gang so that Lillian could take over the waterfront. How long had this all been Lillian's plan? Wiping tears from her face so that she didn't fly into a building, Kara had to wonder if Lillian had sent someone to shoot her, to shoot Lena. What kind of a monster was Lillian? What was her end game?

Supergirl streaked through the air, heading to CatCo. Her mind raced with options. Right now Lillian held all the cards, but only if she played by that bitches rules. Supergirl had to flip the script. Grabbing her phone, Kara dialed 911 and was heartened to hear the voice of dispatcher on the other side.

The woman's voice was crisp and professional as she said, "Emergency dispatch, what is your emergency?"

"I need police, lots of police! There are people who are going to be killed if someone can't get to the first!"

"Calm down ma'am," the dispatcher said, her voice still utterly calm and lacking emotion. "Now who's going to be killed?"

"James Olsen at CatCo, but I can get to him. Winn is…no, not Winn. Alex Danvers at the National City Public Library! Somebody needs to get to her. The man across from her is an assassin hired to kill her. Also, Detective Maggie Sawyer, she's on stakeout. Someone needs to get to her now! There's someone in the police van pretending to be a rookie officer, but he's going to kill her. Lena Luthor in room 700 at National City Memorial Hospital is going to be killed. Please, someone needs to get to her now! Did you get all that?"

"Yes, ma'am. Alex Danvers at the library, Detective Maggie Sawyer on stakeout, and Lena Luthor in the hospital are all in danger, and you need the police to intercede and help," the woman replied, still utterly calm. "Is there anything else you want to tell me, Kara?"

Supergirl's voice caught in her throat. Now that she knew, she recognized the voice. She'd been in such a panic; she didn't even realize who she was speaking to. The calm manner, the lack of emotion, the ice water in the veins all formed a perfect picture now. "Lillian."

"Kara."

"You bitch."

"Sticks and stones, Kara, sticks, and stones," Lillian replied. "Now then, I believe I told you that I wanted you to save these people yourself, not call the police. There need to be consequences for breaking the rules. That's the only way that children learn to behave properly, and I bring up very well behaved children. You may consider this your first lesson in etiquette."

"No! Wait, please, wait. Whatever you're going to do please just—" Supergirl felt a vibration at her wrist where the bracer sat. Dread clamped down on her chest, heavy, tight, and heart crushing. Slowly, painfully slowly, she pulled her wrist up to her face to see the results of her decision to make that 911 call, of Lillian's punishment for that decision. Her greatest fear was seeing a set of zeros below one of the names and knowing she'd already lost someone from her life. Instead, she saw all of the timers blur by faster until they all returned to their normal countdown of one second at a time ticking off…one second closer to death for someone she loved. She couldn't say how much time was lost, fifteen seconds, maybe thirty tops. Her mind was in a panic, but she was certain it wasn't a full minute. "You bitch."

"Language," Lillian replied with a tsk-tsk. "Now, be on your best behavior and follow the rules. I've paid these people well to carry out these tasks. Although I don't think they'd have accepted the job if they knew you would be joining the party. So now be a good girl and do as Lillian says. Don't disappoint me again or I'll find whatever size switch I need to leave my mark on you. Have I been perfectly clear?" Lillian's tone was terse, a bit demanding, expecting of obedience.

Supergirl ground her teeth together, her jaw tight as her will struggled against a need not to give in to this terrorism, this blackmail because that's what it was. However, there were people's lives on the line. What of herself wouldn't she give up for those that she loved? The answer was clear. Nothing. "Perfectly."

"Good girl," Lilian said condescendingly. "Maybe you do have a redeeming quality hidden under all that repugnant DNA after all. Perhaps my daughter knows what she's doing. Do try and keep her alive."

The line went dead, and Supergirl screamed as she raced forward. She screamed for her friends who were sitting around innocently, their lives about to be snuffed out and them none the wiser and therefore unable to fight back. She screamed for herself, caught up in Lillian Luthor's web while the venomous bitch tugged at the threads pulling them tighter. She screamed for the child that was Lena Luthor that had innocently walked into this web also, had no doubt been wrapped up, pumped full of poison, and left to wander the world with it pumping through her veins and rotting her out from the inside. Supergirl surged forward and screamed and screamed again. She poured all of that rage into herself, flying as fast as she could remember flying and then faster as she streaked toward CatCo and a friend whose life was ticking down.

In the distance, the CatCo building stood against the darkening sky. The darker letters stood against, the lighter color of the building. On top, Supergirl saw on light on, the light from James' office and didn't hesitate. She crashed through the glass, shards going everywhere as she hit the man sitting across from James and planted him into the drywall.

"Oh, my God!" James yelled out as he was pushed back into the wall from her passage. "What the hell is going on!?"

Supergirl tossed the gun from the floor onto James' desk. "He was going to kill you!" She stared at James, her mind racing as she considered telling him about Alex, about Maggie, about the others. If it came from his phone…no. Lillian had been very clear and if she had Kara's phone under her control, what would stop her from having the phones of the others also? That was likely Lillian's message to not be a disappointment again. She wanted Kara to do this herself and having James call Winn and Alex didn't do that. These were Lillian's rules, and breaking them meant finding out what a bigger switch felt like.

Why was he—?" Before James could finish his thought, she was gone, onto the next name on the list. He was left to stare at the destruction in his office, the unconscious man jammed into his wall, and the gun on his desk. He lifted his phone, calling 911. He'd get answers later, but right now he just had to deal with what Kara left behind.

Supergirl was in the air, heading over to the alien bar without a name when she heard the 'Beep Beep' from the bracer on her wrist. She looked down, seeing that James had run out of time, but it didn't matter. He was safe. One of them was safe. She tried not to look at the timer as she streaked over downtown then into the little alley. Normally one stopped, knocked, gave the password of 'Dollywood' when the slot opened, then waited for the door to open. Instead, Supergirl slowed enough that she mostly went through the door though also part of the wall. She hung a sharp U-turn, coming to a stop in the air over the bar.

Aliens scattered left and right, some because shards of door and wall had rained down on them and some because Supergirl had just blasted into the bar. She whipped her head left and right. There was no sign of Winn. Using her x-ray vision, she looked under tables, through tables. Quickly she did a quick scan of the room, but still he was nowhere. Kara's hear was pounding. He had to be here. She'd seen him in this bar unless he'd left and…

"Where's Winn!?" Her voice echoed across the bar, the only response the quiet tinking of bottles rolling across the floor, someone coughing, wood chips continuing to fall, hearts pounding both the customers and hers. "Where's Winn!?"

"Supergirl?"

Supergirl's head turned left faster than a human's eye could follow and her vision focused in on Winn where his head and shoulders stuck out of the bathroom. She was on him in a second, pulling him into the middle of the room at a speed and with a lack of care that would surely result in whiplash.

"Where were you sitting!?"

"Sitting? Why what's—?"

"The person with you was sent to kill you! Where were you sitting!? Now!"

Never breaking eye contact with the screaming hero, Winn pointed to a booth along the wall, three from the entrance.

Supergirl was there in a heartbeat. She ripped the booth up and overhead, throwing it carelessly behind her to the terror of the aliens diving out of the way in the nick of time. She pulled the man hiding there with a syringe in hand up by the throat. She punched him in the face three times, then tossed him into the ceiling where he struck, stuck for a moment, then dropped, the assassin's limp form falling behind the hero.

Winn opened his mouth to ask what was going on, but Supergirl was gone directly through the wall and up into the sky, taking chunks of the building across the alley with her.

Supergirl had only been in the air for seconds when she heard the damn 'Beep Beep' that marked the alarm on her bracer. That was for Winn though, and she knew exactly where to find Alex. Pouring on the speed, her mouth dry and blood pounding in her ears, she pressed her arms to her sides. She wanted every bit of aerodynamics she could get, every bit of speed. Two of them were safe, but three of the people she loved were still in danger. Three of the people she loved would die if she weren't fast enough, wasn't strong enough. She had to do it. She had to save them all.

Eyes narrowing, Supergirl saw the National City Public Library in the distance. She knew Alex was in there, but not exactly where in there her sister would be. It took everything in her to not look at the bracer, to not see how many seconds were left on her sister's life. Doing so could only cost Alex time, cost Maggie time, cost Lena time…her mind spiraled down into a dark and ugly place at the thought, and she tried to push it away. She tried to ignore the way her fingers twitched with the urge to check even against her better judgment.

Overcome with the need to do something, anything, she used her x-ray vision seeing people sitting at many tables and yelled, "Alex!" It was too far away, and her sister couldn't hear her. She pushed forward, getting closer, over the street outside, and yelling again, "Alex!"

A head lifted, Alex's face coming into view with a curious cast, and Supergirl could see the curl of the start of her name on her sister's mouth. There was no time though, no time before Supergirl was there, slamming into the woman sitting across from Alex and tossing her across the library to take out a half dozen bookshelves that toppled like dominoes.

"Where's Maggie!" Supergirl asked, breathless, heart pounding.

"Jesus Ka… Supergirl! What the—!"

"She was going to kill you!" Supergirl said pointing to the stunned assailant. "Maggie's next unless I can get to her! Where is she!?"

"I…on stakeout," Alex said, her words catching in her throat.

"I know that! Where!?"

Alex shook her head, whispering, "I don't know."

"…you have to," Supergirl whispered back.

Hand over her mouth, Alex stared at her sister, mind racing. Suddenly she jumped at a 'Beep Beep' sound.

"That was for you," Supergirl said. "That was for you. Maggie has…" Supergirl looked at her bracer, seeing the minutes, seconds ticking down on the timer for Maggie and Lena. Her eyes slid back and forth over both of their countdowns, the remaining times in both of their lives. "Oh Rao, Alex. You need to know something."

"She doesn't tell me where she is. She doesn't tell me."

"I'm so sorry," Supergirl said, a single tear running down her cheek as she watched the tears welling up in her sister's eyes. "I'm so, so sorry." Turning, Supergirl took a single step when a voice stopped her.

"McGovern's Bar!"

"What?"

"She said she was going to McGovern's bar with the team afterward because it was so close to the job. That's on 5th and Elm. There! Look for her near there!"

"But—"

"Please," Alex begged, grabbing her sister's hand. "Please, I can't lose her."

Pulling her hand back, Supergirl stared at her sister for two frantic breath and then was gone. The flight was awful, frantic, terrifying, made more confusing and erratic by eyes filled with tears. Time was short and saving two people was… Kara had lost so much already. She didn't know if what she was feeling in her chest was anger or loss. She knew that if she took the time to examine it, she be giving up time that she didn't have, that someone else didn't have.

The streets were quiet, nearly deserted in this area of National City. Supergirl flew with little care, ripping through a set of powerlines as she rounded a corner and dropped down closer to street level. She saw a generic van in the distance, the symbol of the cable company on its side, and remembered being in one just like it. X-ray vision revealed it was empty and her heart skipped a beat. Head swiveling left and right; she began to scan surrounding buildings until she saw motion. There were half-dozen figures there, all moving like a unit.

Suddenly, there was a 'Beep Beep' sound, and her heart froze like a rock. She watched as one of the figures in the back swung out of line, moving toward the front. She could see it now, see where Maggie stood and the assassin coming up behind her. The assassin's hands were down, moving something. It didn't really matter what. All that mattered was getting there, another burst of speed from somewhere, somehow, and getting there. As the assassin lifted his hand, Supergirl could see the gun with the silencer. It was aimed along the side of Maggie's vest, aimed to go along the narrow gap under the arm and down through the chest as the detective stood with her right arm slightly raised and the butt of her rifle against her shoulder. The assassin's body hid the weapon from the view of others, but not from x-ray vision.

Supergirl crashed through the wall at the far end of the building just as the trigger was pulled. She surged forward, bits of wood, drywall, pipe, electrical, all carried with her briefly as she shot through the air. She was already passing the cops before they had even heard her. She struck the assassin, her left hand reaching out and cupping the bullet even as she shouldered Maggie far too roughly and slammed the detective into the wall, stunning the cop. Supergirl never slowed, taking the assassin with her through the wall and dropping him to fall two stories as she herself went through the building across the alley and up through its roof. It was too close for her to navigate the turn cleanly. Then she was off to the west, back to the heart of National City, back to her heart.

Stress caused fatigue. She'd flown further, but never flown with such fervor. She didn't know how much time she had, but that didn't matter. What mattered was getting there in time. What mattered was saving Lena. They had only just begun and in her mind were the last words she'd said to Lena playing over and over again. I love you. I love you. I love you. Oh, Rao, how she loved Lena. She loved the softness of Lena's raven hair. She loved the scent of Lena that was shampoo, body wash, lotion, just a dab of perfume on the pulse point, and then under it all the woman's own scent emanating deep from within. She loved staring into emerald green eyes that didn't look just at her or through her, but met her and looked within her, never leaving her with a feeling that she was insufficient in any way. She loved that soft, pale skin, perfect in every imaginable way, oh, and how she'd imagined the parts she'd had yet to see or touch. She loved curling up in those arms, feeling the warmth that came not just from a body but a soul that was so good and loving despite evidence of the contrary being spoon fed to her every day as a child. She loved how—

'Beep Beep'

As a child, hand plastered on the window of her ship as she stared back at her planet cracking apart, that sight had been seared into her mind. Space was a void, devoid of air and therefore sound. She'd stared at her world being torn into pieces, only hearing the sound of her own ragged breath, her cracking voice as she begged for her parents, and her heartbreaking. Suddenly she had a soundtrack to play with that sight she saw so many times when she woke screaming at night, and that sound was Two. Simple. Beeps.

Over three miles still from the hospital, tears from her eyes streaming freely and evaporating even before they could leave her cheeks, Supergirl sped forward. Seconds passed, ticking away before the hospital passed into view. Lena's room was there on the corner, the seventh floor, and the light was on just as it had been on the monitor. Though she tried to move faster, there was no faster. Her lungs burned. Her entire body burned as she tried with all her might to get there just a little bit faster.

Eyes zooming in, she saw no movement within the room. Lena still lay in her bed. The covers were pulled up, and the woman's head was turned away, facing the door. Everything looked much the same except…!

She stopped, body vibrating in place just outside the window. The glass shimmered with the heat from her body, shaking and shifting in place. Supergirl stared at Lena's body, eyes focusing with laser accuracy at the woman's neck. She blinked, shaking her head as she tried to push away the tears ruining her focus. Blood pounded in her ears and her voice was ragged and hollow, though barely audible over her heart that beat so rapidly it barely had time to refill before it emptied again. Her whole body shook, tremors racking her from head to toe. She wiped the back of her hand across both eyes, hoping that when the hand was removed, the picture before her would be different, changed, less dreadful. Palms pressing to the windowpane and forehead on the glass, her breath fogged things up, and she stared. No matter how long she watched, nothing changed. Lena didn't move, and that needle in Lena's neck was still there.

There was a point, perhaps a point of no return, when Kara had to make a choice to leave Maggie behind and move onto Lena. Alex's words had stopped her though. Alex's eyes had stopped her. The truth was Kara believed in her ability to save everyone. If she tried harder, loved more, kept hope in her heart, she couldn't fail. To her, that had always felt like a victory over the wreckage of Krypton. In this moment, it felt like hubris. In this moment, it felt like death.

In the back of her mind, Kara screamed. She yelled at herself to not give up. A spark of hope still burned, hope that whatever had been done to Lena could be counteracted. She should go in there, see if…see if…see if…but all she could see was that damn needle through blurred vision and Lena lying motionless. Her breath came in gasps, and her whole body shook uncontrollably. Even knowing she should do something, Kara couldn't make her muscle respond.

Someone moved inside the room past Lena, a blue uniform that Kara vaguely recognized as National City's finest. They ran past the foot of the bed, disappearing out of sight beyond the blinds. Too late, they were too late. Kara was too late. It felt like the weight of the world was coming crashing down upon her shoulders as that realization hit her. No matter how hard you try, no matter how hard you hope, no matter how much you love, you can't save them all. You can't save them all.

Slowly Kara drifted away from the window. It was a defense mechanism. If she wasn't here, if she didn't see this, it didn't happen. She could just will it away and…Rao help her, she couldn't will it away.

Motion from within the room caught her attention again. The police officer came back, a woman in scrubs cuffed and walking in front of him. Kara knew immediately that was the assassin, but still, she didn't move. Her rage should have been murderous, and it was but not at some nameless killer. Right now Kara didn't even get around to blaming Lillian. Right now all of Kara's anger was focused on Kara.

Behind the officer came Kalia. She whisked her hands together, wiping away some remnants of the day. Her movements were far too casual for the feelings jumping around inside Kara's chest. Kalia walked up to Lena's body, placing a hand on the woman's head. Speaking, Kalia nodded once, and Kara wondered what was being said in this moment. Though there was this uncaring image between them, Kara knew the truth that lay under the surface. Kalia took her hand off of Lena's head, pulling something out of a pocket. She wrapped her other hand around the needle, pulling it out and putting her free hand to Lena's neck.

And then Lena lifted her hand.

"Lena!"

Kara was inside the room, crashing through the window pane and all. Glass and wood shattered across the room, across the bed, making both Lena and Kalia cover themselves, Kalia leaping back because she was able. Kara stood by the side of the bed, hands held out and trembling as she leaned forward and slowly touched Lena's shocked face.

"Lena, you're alive."

"Not if you give her a heart attack." Kalia quipped. "What the hell are you doing, Supergirl?"

"You…you…" Eyes wide, Kara just stared down at Lena.

"Did my mother send her?" Lena asked, her green eyes more than a little bit sad at the thought.

"I'm so sorry," Kara replied. "I wasn't in time. I couldn't save everyone, and I wasn't in time to save you. Oh, Rao, Lena. I'm so sorry."

"Relax, hero; she's fine. She has people," Kalia said.

"You…?" Kara looked at Kalia, not truly sure what had happened.

Kalia shrugged. "I saw a nurse in here that shouldn't be in here. I was ready to take her out even before I saw the needle. If I'd gotten here a second earlier, she wouldn't have gotten the needle into Ms. Luthors neck."

"A second later and she could have pushed the plunger," Lena added.

"Lucky timing then I guess," Kalia said, her mouth shifting around a bit as is not sure what it should be if it should smile, but that expression being lost long ago.

"That you," Supergirl said to the nurse.

As Supergirl tried to climb into bed with her, Lena straight-armed the hero. "You should go. Perhaps you can get more information on whoever is behind this attack. I'm all right."

"I'm not," Kara whimpered, collapsing onto the bed.

Lena exhaled heavily, pulling the other woman to her as best as she was able.

"Hey, broken glass," Kalia argued.

"She'll be fine," Lena said stroking Kara's hair and speaking in gentle tones.

"She's not my patient," Kalia retorted.

"Just…give us a few minutes, Kalia, won't you? She's distraught."

Putting down the needle and pulling out a band-aid, Kalia covered the needle wound on Lena's neck. "Don't get cut. If you need stitches, you're not getting anesthesia first."

Lena watched the other woman go, closing the door behind her, then spoke gently to Kara again. "Would you care to explain this to me?"

It was several moments of tears and shakes before Kara could respond. "It was your mother."

"I'd love to be shocked and disappointed, but I'm not. So this was some sort of message to me? Does she want me to know that she can have me killed if she wants me killed? Do you know what this was about?"

"It—" At a vibration against her leg, Kara froze up. "Excuse me." She rolled away, pulling out her cellphone from her boot, but there were no missed calls and no texts. Last she'd looked it had been taken over by Lillian. As that sense of dread took over, she reached into the boot where she had the pager from Lillian tucked away. Pressing the button showed a phone number. Looking back to Lena she said, "I need to make a call."

"All right."

"I need to go make a call in private."

Eyes narrowed, Lena said, "You're leaving."

"I…just briefly, I think."

Lena pointed up and down her own body. "Kara, you just crashed in here, covered me in part of the wall, and I still don't have an explanation for what's going on. You can't just leave."

"Well, maybe I should go change," Kara suggested.

"Hmmm." Lena nodded. "Actually, that's a good point. Leave and come back?"

"Absolutely," Kara said leaning over the bed and kissing Lena. "I'll get Kalia?"

"Please, and hurry back. I want to know more about this."

"I'll be back just as soon as I can," Kara agreed.

After getting Kalia, Kara headed to the roof. She wasn't surprised when her cellphone allowed her to call the number on the pager.

"Hello, Kara," Lillian's amused voice answered. "You were late."

"You're a psychotic bitch!"

"Hurtful," Lillian replied. "I'm hardly psychotic."

"Lena could have died."

"Whose fault would that have been? You broke the rules. You took too much time getting to the detective. I told you; just give someone up and you'll have plenty of time for everyone else. I think the real problem is your devotion to my daughter is in question. How would Lena feel if she knew you'd chosen to save Detective Sawyer over her?"

"Shut up!"

Lillian tsked over the line. "Kara, Kara, Kara. That kind of talk is going to hurt our business relationship. You need to be more professional than that."

"If you think I'm working with you, then you are psychotic."

"Oh, I don't think you're working with me, but I think you'll be staying out of my way. You see, I know what's important to you. Your invulnerability is only skin deep. There are several life lessons I can teach you. Cross me, and I'll teach you one. Then you can decide if you're willing to lose any of your remaining loved ones."

"You'd kill your own daughter to…to…!?" Kara shook with barely controlled raged. "You are a monster."

"No, I'm a human being. This is my world. You and your kind are parasites. I will protect my kind from you, no matter the cost. Lena has potential. She always has. If she chooses to throw that away on the likes of you, so be it. I'll give her an opportunity. I am her mother after all, but my patience is not limitless. For now, the most valuable thing she can do is keep you in check. Can she do that, Kara?"

Jaw locked down so tightly she thought her teeth might crack, Kara managed to croak out, "Yes."

"Excellent. See, we're already one, big, happy family. Welcome to the family, Kara. Now, go make my daughter happy. Oh, and go clean up that room or move her or something. Seriously, didn't we just discuss using doors? Now say goodbye Lillian, we'll talk soon."

Though the words burned in her mouth, Kara managed to spit out, "Goodbye Lillian, we'll talk soon."

"Yes, oh yes we will."


	25. 25-El Mayarah

Kara stared at her phone, shaking in an attempt not to crush it in her hand. She had insurance on the phone for just such an occurrence, and that thought tickled the back of her mind. Mainly she imagined Lillian's throat, her hand wrapped around it, and the light in the woman's eyes flickering out as her grip tightened. Lillian's futile clawing fingers would finally slide away as the human's body hung limp and lifeless, a sack of evil rendered inert. It would be justice. It would protect the people Kara loved. It would protect the world. In the broader sense, that was what Kara did, protected the world. How would ending Lillian not be part of Supergirl's responsibility?

Suddenly her phone jumped to life, text after text alert popping in. It was startling as they practically tripped over each other. Lillian had obviously freed her phone from whatever means held it captive before. The texts started with James, moved through Winn, and ended with Alex. There were none from Maggie…curious. That was probably only a matter of time.

Then the missed calls came through. It was the same group of people: James, Winn, and Alex. Again, there were none from Maggie. Maggie was the last person in the line, so maybe she was still dealing with things on her end and hadn't gotten around to reaching out yet. Kara knew it would be coming. She would happily put it off as long as possible. Opening the texts, she read the string from James first.

James: "Kara, what's going on? Why did my interview just turn into an assassination attempt? I've got the cops on their way, but I don't know what to tell them."

James: "I really need to hear back from you before the cops get here."

James: "Okay, I'm calling. The cops are downstairs and on their way up."

James: "You're ignoring my calls? Are you all right? I've got to tell the cops what I know which isn't a lot, but it's what you told me. Please call or text me."

James: "I've got to go give a statement at the police station. Can you meet me there? The guy you hit is being taken to the hospital under guard. He's hurt. What's going on?"

Kara exhaled heavily. She needed to explain this, but she wasn't sure how exactly. Could she tell anyone about the pager? Could she tell anyone about Lillian? This was a nightmare. She switched to the texts from Winn and kept reading.

Winn: "Holy crap! What was that!? Who is that guy?"

Winn: "Kara?"

Winn: "Hey Kar, you okay?"

Winn: "So, trying to reach Maggie because we kind of need a cop. She's not answering. Suggestions?"

Winn: "I just spoke to Alex. What the hell Kara! What's going on!? She's freaking out! Like Alex is seriously freaking out! I have never seen Alex freak out. I once saw a female Almeracian pin Alex to the wall by her throat. Alex emptied her clip into the Almeracian. When the alien just smiled, do you know what Alex did next? She reloaded and did it again! Alex doesn't freak out! Alex freaking out is making me freak out!"

Winn: "I'm better. I'm doing better. J'onn is sending someone here. Not sure that's legit, but like whatever. Beggars…choosers…you know the drill. You really need to call Alex. She needs you Kara. This is serious. Call your sister."

Brow furrowed, Kara re-read that last text. Then she went back and read the one before that. Maybe Alex hadn't heard from Maggie either. Crap! Okay, she needed to drop Alex a text and let her know that Maggie was fine. Stupid! Stupid! Of course, Alex was freaking out. She'd left her on a 'Someone is going to kill your girlfriend.' And 'I'm so sorry.' Ugh, so freaking stupid Kara. Way to go. She almost called Alex, but she didn't want to hear yelling that she could hear without a phone. With Kara's hearing, that might not be an exaggeration. She jumped into texts, seeing something about going to the hospital and deciding to back up to the beginning to find out why her sister was showing up to yell at her in person.

Alex: "Is she okay?"

Alex: "Kara?"

Alex: "?"

Alex: "Kara, I don't know what's going on. I'm sure it's serious or you'd be in touch. I need an update. I can't get in touch with Maggie. The station won't tell me anything since it's an active operation. I'm driving down there right now. No ranting, I pulled over for this text. If I haven't heard from one of you by the time I get there I'm whipping out the biggest badge I have. I don't care if J'onn makes me scrub toilets for a month. I need to know she's okay."

Alex: "Jesus Kara, they called me. I'm Maggie's emergency contact, and they called me. What the fuck happened? They won't tell me over the phone. They just said she's hurt and to get to National City Memorial Hospital. Tell me you got to her in time. Tell me she's not dead."

Kara just stared at the phone, shaken beyond action for several seconds. When she could move again, she called Alex immediately.

"Kara!"

"Alex! I got there! I stopped him! I…I don't know why they'd take Maggie to the hospital. I stopped him!" Kara's words were a combination of stuttered confusion and rushed anxiety.

Alex panted, her breathing harsh on the other side of the phone. "Okay. Where are you?"

"The hospital."

"Are you with Maggie?"

Kara listened to the sound of traffic and muffled air, no doubt her sister's Bluetooth under her motorcycle helmet. "No, Lena was…there was an attack on Lena too. I was too late and—"

"Oh, my God! Is Lena—!?"

"No," Kara wiped at her eyes, crying again. "Lena's fine. I was too late, but…later Alex. I'll tell you later. Oh, Rao, I know we need to talk. This is such a mess. I promised Lena I'd be back to talk to her. I kind of smashed through her window."

"Ugh, fucking Luthor," Alex mumbled. "Look, I need you to check on Maggie for me. Kara, I'm terrified. Do this for me?"

"Of course," Kara replied without hesitation. "I'll find out what I can. When will you be here?"

"I headed to the station, so I was in the totally wrong direction. My GPS says I'm eleven minutes out, so I'll be there in eight."

Kara sighed. "Alex, you don't need to join Maggie in the hospital. You're not the invulnerable sister."

"Just find her and call me."

Kara was about to put her phone down since Alex had already hung up, but she remembered James and Winn. She shot them both off a quick text, telling them she could explain, but she was still in the middle of things. She promised she'd be in touch as soon as she could be. Dropping her phone into her purse, Kara changed in seconds and headed back downstairs. Lena was already in a wheelchair, Kalia packing up a few things.

"What's going on?" Kara asked.

"Supergirl redecorated," Kalia replied, pointing to the hole that had once been windows. "We're moving Ms. Luthor to another room. It won't be a corner, but it's private. It's the best we can do on short notice."

Kara nodded, looking over at Lena. "You okay?"

Lena returned the nod. "I'm glad you're here. We should talk. Walk us to the new room?"

"Actually, I need to go do something."

"Kara," Lena said, her voice a warning.

"It's Maggie," Kara explained. "She's being brought into the hospital. Alex isn't here yet, and she wants me to find Maggie."

"Oh. What's wrong?"

"I have no idea. No one will tell Alex over the phone. That's why she wants me to find Maggie. Alex needs to know that Maggie is all right. She loves her."

Lena nodded slowly, but as Kara turned to leave she said, "Kara, are you certain Detective Sawyer is all right?"

Kara turned, seeing the way Lena studied her. "She's fine. I'm sure of it."

"Hmmm. Kalia, what's the new room number?"

"712."

"Very good. Meet us there, Kara."

"I will."

"Hurry back," Lena said, eyes narrowed and watching Kara intently.

Kara attempted a smile, but she knew it was weak. She turned, getting out from under the weight of Lena's gaze as quickly as possible. As she made her way down the hall and then the stairs, she had no doubt that if Lena continued to watch her, the woman would somehow know exactly what happened even if she never said a word. For not the first time, Kara felt pity for anyone sitting on the other side of a boardroom table from the young CEO.

Down at admitting, Kara headed to the front desk. "Excuse me. Has Detective Maggie Sawyer been brought in?"

The nurse looked at the paperwork in front of her and asked, "And you are?"

"Kara Danvers. My sister is her girlfriend, Alex Danvers. Alex is her emergency contact. She's on her way in. Is Maggie here yet?"

"Sweetie, I can talk to your sister when she gets here. I can't talk to you about a patient."

"So she's here," Kara said in full investigative reporter mode.

"Just wait for your sister."

Looking around the ER waiting room, Kara saw a group of police officers. When one of theirs was hurt, they always showed up in force. As luck would have it, she recognized one of them. As luck wouldn't have it, she didn't like him, and he would only know Supergirl. Actually, the later might be a good thing.

Going up to the group of cops, she cleared her throat and said to Detective Erickson, "Excuse me, but are you all here for Detective Sawyer?"

"Who are you?" Erickson replied.

"I'm Kara Danvers. My sister is Alex Danvers, her girlfriend."

Erickson gave Kara a quick once over. Kara noticed he wasn't checking her out, more of an assessment, fairly professional. It wasn't what she'd have expected after their meeting in the van and his comment about Alex, about things in general.

He gave a quick shake of his head. "You don't look like you can be her sister. I know Alex Danvers. No way."

"Oh." Kara adjusted her glasses. "I'm adopted, well, technically a foster I guess. We're not related by blood, but Alex is my sister. Here." She dug her wallet out of her purse, pulling out her driver's license. "This is me. Oh, wait." She grabbed a picture of her and Alex and showed the detective that. "This probably makes more sense."

"Oh, sorry kid," the detective said, holding out his hands and refusing to take her ID or the picture. "I didn't mean to jump down your throat there. You wouldn't believe the kind of crap the press will pull to get a story…fucking vultures."

Kara winced. "Um, full disclosure. I actually am a reporter. That's my job, but I'm here because my sister is losing it and Maggie's my friend. I'm not trying to write a story."

Putting the ID and photo back into her wallet, Kara dropped it into her bag and pulled out her phone, opening her photo section. She scrolled to some from game night, finding one of Alex and Maggie snuggled together on the couch, Alex's arm wrapped around Maggie's neck and them both holding beers. Their smiles were ear to ear.

"Please, I just want to be able to tell my sister that Maggie is okay. Is she okay? Please?"

Erickson turned around and said, "Eldridge, come here!"

A uniform cop joined them

"Eldridge, you were on the op with Sawyer. What did the medics say when they picked her up? This is Danvers' sister, the girlfriend."

"Hey," Eldridge said with a nod. "She was unresponsive, uh, breathing and had a pulse. We checked on that. They took her blood pressure on the scene, and I guess that was good. The first ambulance took that rookie off. Whatever smashed through us fucked him up but good."

"What happened?" Kara asked, relaxing a bit now that Maggie was apparently okay.

"Something, some blur or something, just streaked through our unit. We couldn't see it. It was dark in there, and the thing moved way too fast. Suddenly the rookie was falling two stories through a hole in the wall and Sawyer was smashed into the wall. She hit the doorframe head first, went down like a rock. We figured it was part of that ultra-gang. We called in for back-up and medical support. We had to carry her out of there. Not sure if we hurt her doing it, but we couldn't leave her up there."

Face darkening, Kara's hand folded into a tight fist. She'd hurt Maggie. Trying to rush to make it to Lena in time, she'd sent Maggie to the hospital. "She was alive though. She was okay?"

"She was alive," Eldridge replied. "She didn't come to while we were there. We never saw what hit us or anyone or anything else."

"Thank you." Kara stepped off to a secluded area and called Alex.

"Kara!?"

"I talked to some of the cops here. They said she's alive. The hospital won't talk to me."

"Okay, okay," Alex said, breathing a little bit easier. "I'm almost there."

"Do you want me to wait in the ER for you?"

"I'd like you to. Why? What's up?"

"I need to go see Lena. I smashed my way into her room. She wants to know what happened and I just walked out on her for the second time since it happened. She wants an explanation, and I think I owe her that."

"You don't owe her anything," Alex replied. "She had a chance at a relationship with you. Lena couldn't even manage a friendship. Don't go crawling back to her now. Wait for me, and when we talk, we'll decide through what official channels we're handling whatever is going on. We'll send an agent to speak to Ms. Luthor or maybe to her lawyer. Let's see how she likes it."

Kara cringed, grateful that Alex couldn't see her. Maybe she and Lena should renegotiate the terms of their secret relationship. If possible, Alex seemed to dislike Lena even more than Alex did before the shooting, and Lena had been suspect number one on most anti-alien activities. It didn't matter that Lena had actually saved the life of all the aliens by neutralizing Myriad. Lena's last name seemed to trump her good deeds.

"I'd rather just speak with her Alex. She was in a hospital bed, not even able to walk, and I covered her in broken glass and pieces of the wall. This has nothing to do with Lena and me. You do that to anyone; they deserve an explanation."

"You're too nice, Kara," Alex replied. "Call me once you're done. I'll text you Maggie's room number, and you can come and see her."

"Sounds good. I love you and Maggie too."

"Love you too, Kara. See you soon."

Heading back up the stairs, Kara started to collect her thoughts for this conversation. Lena wasn't going to be put off. She didn't deserve to be put off. This was all a mess, and it started with Kara running headlong into danger and trying to handle Lillian herself. She was trying to protect Lena, but the path to hell was paved with good intentions, and Kara felt like she had that paving contract right now.

Standing outside room 712, Kara knocked on the door and said, "May I come in?"

Kalia looked up, not responding, only looking over at Lena.

"Please do," Lena said from her wheelchair. "How's the detective?"

Entering, Kara replied, "Alive, but the hospital wouldn't tell me anything else. Alex is almost here though. She felt better once I told her Maggie was alive. She needed to hear that."

Lena nodded. "Kalia, Kara and I need the room for a bit. Would you mind?"

"We need to finish setting up your room, and you need to get some sleep. Your body still has a lot of healing to do, and you heal when you sleep," Kalia replied.

"Did you just tell me no?" Lena asked.

Heading toward the door, Kalia replied, "I just gave you the facts of what you should do. I'll be outside when you're done with your conversation." She left, closing the door behind her.

"I like her," Kara said with a small smile.

"You like everyone," Lena replied.

"Not everyone," Kara mumbled in response.

"Are you ready to explain what happened tonight? Someone tried to kill me, and you know who was behind it. It was my mother, wasn't it? That poem and the flowers, they were a warning. Was it about you? Does she know who you are?"

Eyebrows high, Kara pulled up a chair and sat down so that her knees were almost touching Lena's legs as she asked, "Do you actually need me for this conversation?"

"A nod would be helpful."

Kara nodded.

"Hmmm. Well, this is problematic."

"Problematic? I was leaning toward disastrous," Kara said.

"Actually, there is one thing that confuses me."

"Just one thing?"

Biting at the pad of her thumb, Lena remained in quiet contemplation for a few moments before she said, "This seems off for Mother. It's sloppy, unfocused. Why send a warning if she's going to make an attempt on my life? Why try to kill me in this manner when there are such more effective means? No, I'm missing something. I can't see the whole board."

"Board, what board?"

"When playing chess, you can predict your opponent's moves by seeing what they've done and what is still available to them in relation to what you've done and what you can do. That's the very basics though. Truly, you need to play as your opponent, not just as yourself. You need to see what the very best moves would be for your opponent and be prepared to counter them. This, this makes no sense. This gains her nothing. There are several things my mother would do if she were striking against me but not this. Mother would do what would hurt me the most, and this doesn't…" Lena looked up, staring sharply at Kara. "She's not playing with me, is she? This isn't about me. Aiteann! Kara, how did you know I was in danger?"

Closing her eyes, Kara let out a slow breath. "You're going to be mad at me."

"I believe I get to make that decision."

Reaching into her purse, Kara pulled out the pager and held it out to Lena.

"Explain," Lena said, taking the pager.

"It's from your mother."

"Explain better."

"Lillian is behind the gang that's been taking over the waterfront. I roughed up one of her men a bit and found out she sent him information for meetings on that thing. I thought I could just wait for the next address and show up and surprise her. I got the address tonight, but when I showed up, she had a surprise for me. She had people with body cameras with you, Alex, James, Winn, and Maggie. She told me that she was going to kill all of you, and if I were Kara Danvers, then I'd know who you were and how to find all of you. She gave me this." Kara pulled the bracer out of her purse. "It had all of your names on it and a timer. It started counting down. When it got to zero, the person with each of you would kill you. James had the least time, so I had to get to him first. Then it was Winn, Alex, Maggie, and you Lena. She told me I could skip someone else, and I'd have time to get to you but I…I just…I…"

Laying a hand on Kara's, Lena asked, "You got to all of your friends in time?"

Kara took several deep breaths, nodding. "It was so close with Maggie. I didn't know where she was and Alex couldn't tell me. Lena, I was going to leave her to die. I was going to let Maggie die to get to you in time, but then Alex remembered the bar Maggie was going to after her operation, and it was close to the op. I headed over there. I got to her just in time. I caught the bullet in my hand, dropped the guy who tried to kill her off the second floor, but I must have hit Maggie. I was flying fast, and I didn't even notice. That's why she's in the hospital. She's hurt."

Concern etched in her face, Lena asked, "How badly?"

"She's alive. She sounded stable, but I don't know. I was just…I was so scared, Lena. I had to get to you in time, but I didn't. When I got here and saw that needle in your neck, I thought you were dead. I failed you."

"Kara, I'm fine. Kalia was here. I'm fine," Lena said opening her arms and letting Kara fall into a comforting embrace. "Everything is fine."

"I didn't save you."

"You can't do everything by yourself. You have friends, family. Someplace you have a secretive team of some kind. Lean on them. Look at me. Darling, look at me." When Kara lifted her face, Lena said, "Lean on me. You don't need to carry these kinds of burdens alone. I know you're strong. No one doubts your strength and constitution. No matter how strong you are, you need to remember that we're—"

"El mayarah."

"…what?"

"El mayarah," Kara repeated. "Stronger together."

"Certainly," Lena replied. "I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the phrase though."

"It's Kryptonian, my family motto. El Mayarah means stronger together."

"Kryptonian," Lena said, her eyes a bit wide and a touch of awe in her voice. "You speak Kryptonian. Do you think…? I mean, would it be possible…? Would I be allowed to…?"

As her smile grew, Kara said, "Lena Luthor, stumbling over her words. I never thought I'd live to see the day. Are you asking if I'll teach you to speak Kryptonian?"

"Is it allowed? I'm a fast learner."

"Oh, I believe that." Kara leaned in again, this time applying a gentle kiss to Lena's lips. "I'd love to teach you my language. It would be so beautiful to have someone to speak with again."

"I'd love to be that someone."

Kara sighed deeply, leaning in for another kiss, but she met Lena's hand.

"Details, Kara, I need details. What you're telling me about my mother still doesn't add up. If she did this, then she already knew who you were."

"You think?"

"Oh, yes. This was something else. This wasn't about your identity. What did she get from you by doing this?"

"Well…" Kara hesitated.

"Spit it out."

"Okay, but you're going to be mad."

"I'm already furious."

"This is you furious?" Kara leaned back, studying Lena. "You seem fine. How am I going to know when we're fighting?"

"I'll leave a horse's head in your bed." With a small laugh, Lena said, "Goodness, your face. That was a joke, darling. I'm furious with my mother. I'm displeased with you, but you didn't grow up in a snake pit. Quite frankly, I'm rather glad you don't know how to deal with her. If my mother's machinations are successful against you, it's only because you're the pure soul I suspect you to be. You shouldn't change. You shouldn't ever be capable of standing against her. Just come to me with anything to do with Lillian Luthor. Let me handle Lillian Luthor. Unfortunately, I know how her mind works."

"You're nothing like her. You know that, don't you?"

Taking Kara's hand, Lena replied, "I'm more like her than you want to admit, but thank you. So long as there are Lillian Luthors, there will be room in this world for people like me. So long as there are people on my side like you, I'll never be a Lillian Luthor. Don't ever think for a moment I don't know that. I've clung to you like a limpet since you first came to my office with your cousin. You're like a lodestone for my morality. Anytime I go astray; there you are pointing me back on course."

Scrunching up her face adorably, Kara said, "I'm not perfect."

"No one is," Lena agreed. "You're better than most though. Now, what was my mother's move that I've yet to see? What is it you're not saying?"

"Ugh." Flopping back in her chair, Kara spoke toward the ceiling. "When I left before, the first time before, it was to call Lillian."

"You're speaking with my mother?"

Kara lolled her head to the side and nodded.

"Well, that can't be good."

"It's not. She's blackmailing me."

"With…? You haven't done anything wrong, so what can she…? Ah. It's about the lives of those for whom you care, isn't it?"

"Yes," Kara admitted with a heavy sigh. She sat up, facing Lena head on again. "Lillian told me to stay out of her business, or the people I loved would get hurt. I guess she was proving it here."

"Her opening gambit. Well played Mother. A bit ostentatious, but it drove the point home. It did take a bit of a chance though. If not for Kalia, I would have died. My mother may not care whether I live or die, but killing me at this point wouldn't keep you in check, and that is the whole point. She needs to leave you without any moves. I wonder what her end game is."

"No idea. I can't even figure out how you've figured out as much as you have sitting in a hospital room."

"I'm a Luthor," Lena replied.

"And…somehow that explains it." Kara's phone buzzed in her purse, and she pulled it out. "It's my sister. She texted me. Alex says Maggie is in x-ray. Maggie was unconscious when they brought her in, but she was stable. Alex is demanding her medical chart." Kara looked up from the phone. "Alex is a doctor."

"Hmmm."

"She's still downstairs in the ER. She wants me to come see her."

"Are we done here for now?" Lena asked.

"For now. Everyone else wants to know what happened tonight. Someone tried to kill them, and I just barreled through without an explanation. What should I tell them?"

"What do you want to tell them?"

Kara thought about that for a few moments. "El marayah."

"That's what I thought. If my mother is targeting your friends through you, they deserve to know. They'll need to be able to defend themselves. I can get resources working on things on my end, but the more we have working on this, the better. Perhaps we can even manage a bit of a coordinated search of sorts."

"El marayah," Kara said with a smile.

"El marayah," Lena agreed.

"That was Kryptonian. You spoke Kryptonian," Kara said with a little clap. She leaned forward, kissing Lena again.

When Kara tried to pull the pager from her, Lena closed her hand tightly over it and pulled back. "No. You are not getting this back."

"But…but it isn't safe for—"

"Not up for discussion Kara."

"But if your mother sends a number, she'll be expecting me to call. I have to be the one who has it. You can't call her, Lena. I need it," Kara said, extending her hand.

"The discussion is over. You're not getting it back. My mother isn't having easy access to blackmailing you. I need to figure out how to trace anything that comes through on this thing. If anything does, we'll figure out how to respond together."

Brow creased, Kara extended her lower lip pouting heavily.

"Put that away," Lena said, pointing at Kara's lower lip. "I'm fairly certain that pout is against the Geneva Convention. I am not giving into what is clearly a terrorist action. I'm already dealing with my mother's criminal activities. I won't be blackmailed by you also."

"Fine," Kara replied, withdrawing the dangerous lowering lip, though if a pout could be a sound, her voice still held it. "Lena, are you going to break up with me?"

"Break up with you? Why would I break up with you?"

"Well, you didn't want to date me because of your family. This, what just happened, that was pretty much your biggest fear, right? I'm sort of waiting for the 'I told you so' and the dumping."

"Ah," Lena nodded. "Well, you won't be getting either. I'm sorry you have to deal with my mother. If you'd care to break up with me because of my family I'd—"

"No, never!"

Smiling, Lena kissed Kara gently. "You're amazing, honestly, far too good. How did I get so lucky?"

"So we're good?"

"Well, we're both still toes above the dirt and moving forward. At this intersection, I'm not sure we can hope for much more. Breaking up with you won't undo what my mother knows. It's about emotional manipulations with her. She knows about our feelings, and she's using that against you. Even if we broke up, it wouldn't stop you for caring for me so it wouldn't matter." Lena watched Kara visibly relax. "Go take care of your sister, and please let me know how the detective is doing. If she needs anything, anything at all that I can provide, don't hesitate to ask. She and I may have a rocky past, but I know she's important to you."

Standing, Kara squeezed Lena's arm gently. "And you say I'm amazing. Um…so what do you think about telling my sister about us?"

"Tell Agent Danvers? I thought we agreed not to tell anyone."

"We said we'd tell Lori. That's someone. That's your someone," Kara pointed out.

"You were the one who wanted to tell her."

"That's true. I still want to." Kara sighed. "It's just…my sister's pissed at you."

"As opposed to?"

Kara shook her head. "No, things were getting better before. You saw her. She and Maggie were coming here while you were in the hospital. Alex and I had been talking about you, and Alex admitted she was wrong about you. She said she'd watched that video of you jumping in the way of the gunman a bunch of times and she realized how selfless that was, how much you cared about me. Alex had really started to like you, Maggie and Winn too. Since you told me you wanted to pretend you didn't know I was Supergirl, my sister is pretty upset with you."

"Huh." Lena bit the pad of her thumb for a few moments and let that sink in. "That's what it took? It took my getting shot for you for your people to start warming up to me?"

With a timid smile, Kara shrugged.

Lena rolled her eyes. "I'm just going to say it now, Kara: tough crowd."

"They'll love you once they get to know you. It's impossible not to," Kara assured the smaller woman.

Lena looked down, examining her own hands. "Until we can assess the threats against me, against us, better I think it would be best to keep our relationship private."

"I really want to tell people."

Meeting Kara's gaze, Lena asked, "Do you want to tell people because you think it will make everyone safer or because you think it will make them like me better?"

"…the last one maybe."

"Life is not a popularity contest, Kara. We can't all be Miss Congeniality. Some of us are just that weird science chick, and we learn to accept that."

Kara shook her head, smiling at Lena. "Look at you. How were you not homecoming queen? You must have been the prettiest girl in the school."

"I graduated from high school at fifteen, darling. There was no official 'least popular girl in school' category, but trust that in the unofficial voting, I won that one. Now go see your sister, and let Kalia back in here. I'm exhausted and need to get some sleep, but she won't let me do it until this room is set up. Sometimes I wonder which one of us is signing the paycheck here."

Kara laughed, leaning in and giving Lena another quick kiss. She walked over to the door, turning and quietly saying, "Hey, I love you."

Lena gave a small smile in return, nodding and waving her hand toward the door to encourage Kara to leave which the blonde did. She watched Kara's retreating back saying nothing at all.


	26. 26-Superfriends 1

It was several more tense hours before Alex had Maggie's results, and Maggie was moved to a room. The detective had a dislocated shoulder, a broken nose, and a fractured skull. Kara had recoiled at the explanation while Alex had asked for details, detailed details. The shoulder dislocation was a closed reduction, so it wouldn't need surgery. It had been immobilized with a sling to reduce the chance of another dislocation until it could heal. The nose fracture was slightly displaced, but they'd need to wait until after the swelling subsided to repair it. They were being given a referral to an otolaryngologist for the surgery. The skull fracture was a simple or closed fracture of the frontal bone. In the world of fractured skulls, that was the best kind. Maggie had been given some steroid medication to reduce the swelling in her face and skull along with a mild pain killer. Alex accepted the list of post-concussion symptoms with a nod.

When Maggie woke up, she was confused and in pain, but she was Maggie. She joked, smiled, did her best to make Alex feel better. There was practically an army of cops cycling through the room. Kara dozed in a chair in the corner through it all. She was physically, mentally, and mainly emotionally exhausted. What she needed was a log weekend in her own bed. What she wanted was a long weekend in Lena's bed with Lena. She'd settle for a three-hour nap on someone's couch.

At some point, Alex got all of the cops out of the hospital room, locked the door behind them, and kicked Kara's feet off the chair waking the younger Danvers sister.

"What!? Who!? What!?" Kara looked around, trying to take in whatever was attacking them now.

"What the hell exactly happened, Kara!?" Alex said, pointing over at Maggie.

"Babe, volume," Maggie said squeezing her eyes against the sound.

"Sorry, I'm sorry baby," Alex said quietly as she walked back over to Maggie and gently kissed her girlfriend on the cheek.

"Careful," Maggie said.

Alex nodded, then walked over to Kara. "I can't even kiss her. Do you see that? Did you hear what the cops who were there said? Something too fast to be seen blurred through them, grabbed one of their group, smashed Maggie into the wall, and let the other cop fall two stories. Kara, do I know that blur?"

Curling her feet back onto the chair, Kara nodded.

"God damn it, Kara," Alex said rather quietly between gritted teeth. "You could have killed her."

"I was trying to save her life."

Hands in fists and arms shaking, Alex replied, "You could have killed her by trying to save her life. What the fuck happened!?"

"Hey, maybe I could get in on this conversation?" Maggie asked.

"I'm handling this baby. You just rest," Alex replied.

"Forget it, Danvers. They won't give me any good drugs with a head injury. The crap I'm on I could buy at the drug store. If I've got to be clear-headed in this place, then I might as well make myself useful. Anyway, talking about someone who's in the room is fucking rude. Don't talk about me. Talk to me."

Alex nodded, then motioned for Kara to join her as she walked over to sit next to Maggie. "Mags, there's something Kara wants to tell you."

Her hands fiddling together, Kara said, "Technically, Kara doesn't _want_ to tell you anything."

"Hey, just spit it out Little Danvers. What am I going to do to you? I'm stuck in a hospital bed, and one of the officers on scene took my weapon," Maggie said with a hint of her usual smile.

"I'm armed," Alex said deadpan.

"I'm bulletproof. If you fire on me, it will ricochet," Kara reminded her sister.

"What's going on with you two?" Maggie asked.

"Just tell her Kara."

Nodding, Kara said, "I was the blur."

"The blur," Maggie repeated.

"I was the—"

"Hold on," Maggie said, holding up the hand on her good arm. She furrowed her brow, flinching when the motion hurt. Her eyes moved back and forth as she tried to work through something. Finally, she asked, "You attacked me?"

"No," Kara said, waving her hands in front of herself. "I attacked one of the other cops with you. I guess I bumped you when I did it. You were an accident. I was in such a rush to get back to the hospital and save Lena; I didn't even notice. I am so, so sorry Maggie."

"Alex, do you know what's going on?"

"Not really," Alex admitted. "I think Kara owes us an explanation."

"Actually, I owe James and Winn an explanation too. They almost died. Someone was sent to kill them too."

"Are they okay?" Alex asked

"Sent to kill them too, as in this was a hit on me?" Maggie asked.

"They're fine," Kara said to her sister. "Maggie I…this is so complicated. We should get everyone together. You were the only one hurt, Maggie. Well, Lena was…" Kara exhaled heavily, rubbing her hands over her face. "Rao help me, that was awful. I thought she was dead. I saw that needle in her neck, and she looked dead."

"Needle in her neck? Why did Lena have a needle in her neck?" Maggie asked.

"Because I was late getting to you," Kara replied. "That's why I shot through the hallway like that. I didn't know where you were, and then Alex didn't know where you were. I was running out of time, but then Alex remembered that bar near your op. She asked me to save you. She said she couldn't lose you. Alex, you sounded so…" Kara shook her head, looking at her sister. "I didn't want Maggie to die, and I thought I could get to her. When I got to her, it was already too late, and the assassin was moving in. I was out of time, so I just sped through the wall, took the guy out, and must have bumped into Maggie. I was already running behind and by the time I got to the hospital I…"

Kara walked over to the wall, leaning against it. Slowly she slid down the wall until she sat on the floor. Her mind wandered back to that moment, to seeing Lena lying in that bed, the needle sticking out of the woman's neck. Kara sat, staring straight ahead with tears running down her face, but she wasn't seeing what was in front of her eyes. She was seeing what she'd almost lost and the everything she'd lost so many years ago and so many light years away. Suddenly Alex's face came into view.

"Kara, sweetie, are you okay?" Alex asked.

Very slowly, Kara shook her head. "I thought I could save everyone. I didn't want you to lose Maggie. I didn't want me to lose Maggie. There wasn't enough time. I knew that. I knew it, but I didn't believe it, so when I decided to save Maggie I…" Kara just sat shaking her head.

"Is this about Lena?" Alex asked.

Eyes closed, Kara nodded then looked at her sister again. "When I went to Maggie, I didn't have enough time to get to Lena. Alex, you heard that alarm when I was in the library with you. Lena's alarm went off when I was still miles off from the hospital. By the time I got here, the killer had already gotten to her. All I saw was her body in the bed, a needle sticking out of her neck. I thought I could save them both, Maggie and Lena, but I couldn't. When I went to Maggie, I left Lena for dead."

"Fuck." Alex exhaled heavily. "Does Lena know? Did you tell her?"

"Not in so many words, but yes," Kara admitted.

"How'd she take it?" Alex asked.

"Fine. She said she was fine and asked how Maggie was. She said if Maggie needed anything that she could provide, just to let her know. She really wants to help."

Instead of responding, Alex pulled her sister into an embrace. Kara held on, needing the comfort. They stayed like that for a few minutes, neither saying anything. Both of them needed this. There had been so much tension for the past few hours, and when it came down to it they were sisters, and they needed each other when this got rough. This was the definition of rough.

"Hey, if you didn't get here in time, how is Luthor okay?" Maggie asked when the sister finally pulled apart, Alex wiping her eyes and standing.

"Oh, her nurse, Kalia, she's ex-military. Lucky, huh?" Kara said as she pushed back up to her feet and dried her eyes with her sleeve.

Turning her back on her sister, Alex stared at Maggie. Eyes purposefully wide she said, "Her nurse Kalia, huh? That is lucky. What else do you know about this nurse, Kara?"

"Um…she brings me donuts. I like her."

"You like everyone," Alex said turning to face her sister again.

"Not everyone."

"Everyone who feeds you."

Kara held up a finger to defend herself, then dropped her hand. "Okay, but how do you not like someone who brings you food? Food is like the best thing to eat ever."

Clearing her throat and wiping the smile off her face, Maggie said, "So do we need to have a meeting of the Superfriends?"

"Plus one," Kara clarified. "Lena should be here too."

"You are fucking kidding me," Alex grumbled.

"She's part of this, Alex. Someone tried to kill her too. Plus, I want her here. She's important to me."

"Ugh." Alex moaned. "Soooo nice."

"Hey, leave the kid alone, Danvers. She wants Lena in on this, Lena is in on this. Now grab me my phone."

"Why?" Alex asked as she went to Maggie's jacket.

"I'm going to get police reports on all of these incidents. We need to see what we're dealing with. Also, I need to call in the rookie who was with me when I was attacked. Little Danvers, I'm going to have to let the NCPD know that it was Supergirl that clobbered me. You good with that?"

Kara nodded. "You'll tell them it was an accident?"

"Collateral superhero damage. Happens all the time. Thanks, babe," Maggie said taking her cellphone from Alex.

"Oh, Winn didn't call the cops. He was at the alien bar, and he couldn't get in touch with you, Maggie, so he ended up calling J'onn. I don't know what happened to the guy who attacked him," Kara noted.

Maggie nodded, making her call. She got in touch with one of the detectives she worked with, updating him on what she knew that she could relay. She kept a few things back. It was enough to open an investigation, get the rookie in the hospital under police supervision pending further investigation, and get the records for the four open cases sent to Maggie ASAP.

Maggie hung up saying, "All set. You better hope things show up for that rookie like you say the will, Little Danvers."

"He had a gun with a silencer, Maggie. He fired at you." Kara held out her left-hand palm forward. "I caught the bullet in my hand. I'm sorry I bumped you, but it was that close. He was pointing under your arm, in that break above the Kevlar."

"Fuck." Maggie swallowed hard. "Thanks."

"Yeah, thanks, Kara. I'm sorry I yelled at you. I'm just…I freaked out about Maggie. I know you did your best. You saved her life," Alex said reaching out to hug her sister again.

Kara stepped away, fidgeting with her hands. "Don't thank me. You're going to be mad at me after we talk. Everyone is going to be mad at me."

"Why?" Alex asked, her tension returning.

"I'm going to give Winn and James a call, see if they can join us. I'll be right back," Kara replied, exiting the room.

"You notice she didn't answer my question?" Alex asked Maggie.

"Cut her a break, Alex. That kid is under a ton of pressure. She doesn't need it from the people who are supposed to be supporting her."

"How's the headache?" Alex asked.

"It hurts."

"Any dizziness, nausea?"

"This is not how I want to play doctor with you," Maggie replied.

"You have a fractured skull. This is the only type of doctoring you'll be up to for a while."

"I'm a very quick healer. Plus, I bet I'm on leave for a while now. That means I'm off the task force. Are you sure you don't want to play doctor with me, Dr. Danvers?"

"You are all broken."

"No, just my face and my head and stuff. There are whole parts of me, like below the shoulder parts, that are completely fine." Maggie glanced over at the door. "How long do you think your sister will be gone?"

Smiling slightly, Alex replied, "You are a very bad woman."

"Yes, but I'm your bad woman."

It was about two hours later before Winn and James arrived in Maggie's room. James brought flowers, and Winn brought a big R2-D2 balloon that had two smaller Mylar balloons with it. One said, 'The force is strong with this one.' And the other said, 'Get well soon.'

"Flowers, and balloons, James, thanks. Winn, you shouldn't have," Maggie said with her smile that showed off her dimples.

"Ah, it was nothing," Winn said, waving his hand.

"No, really man, you shouldn't have. What the fuck is that?" The smile fell from Maggie's face, and she stared at him, deadpan.

Shocked, Winn stared back until Maggie smiled again. He pointed at her, laughing. "You got me. You got me, Mags-Bar."

"Don't call her that or I'll shoot you," Alex threatened.

"Alex, no shooting people in the hospital," Maggie said.

"What? It's efficient. They're already in the hospital," Alex replied.

"How about no shooting people at all," Kara said hugging first Winn and then James. "I'm so glad to see you both safe and sound."

"Glad to be seen," Winn said with a grin.

"Yeah, right, same here. So, do we get to know what's going on now?" James asked.

"Uh, soon," Kara replied. "We're still waiting on someone."

James looked around the room. "Who's missing?"

"Luthor," Alex nearly spat the word.

"Babe, chill," Maggie said, squeezing the hand of the woman who sat on the bed next to her.

"Lena Luthor?" James asked.

"Are there going to be lawyers?" Winn asked. "Alex, are there going to be lawyers? I'm too cute to go to jail. I am cute, right? James, I'd make a good prison wife for someone, right?"

"Uh…what did I miss?" James asked, ignoring Winn's question.

"Everything," Kara replied.

There were agreed mumblings from Alex, Maggie, and Winn. It was decided by the group just to bring James up to speed on what had happened over the last few weeks. He took a seat and sat back, listening. Every time he tried to ask a question, there was still a lot more to tell him. He did some amazing facial aerobics during the explanation. Eventually, he sat back and listened.

"So, any questions James?" Kara asked when the group was done with their explanation.

Leaning against his hand unblinkingly and looking a bit like he'd just been clubbed upside the head with a frozen mackerel, James asked, "Well to start, who sent that guy to kill me? I don't see how any of that explains someone trying to kill me."

"I want to wait until Lena gets here to explain that," Kara replied.

"Lena." James nodded slowly. "Yeah, I think I kind of agreeing with Alex on that one, Kara. It doesn't sound like she treated you very fairly. You two have been friends for nearly a year. Trusting her with your biggest secret couldn't have been easy for you. It must have hurt when she reacted as she did."

"We're okay now," Kara replied.

"No you're not," Alex said. "I saw the empty tubs of ice cream, Kara. That was relationship ice cream. That was pain ice cream. It takes a lot of frozen dairy to get a Danvers girl through heartache and I ought to know."

"Hey, watch it with the friendly fire," Maggie said.

"Oh, no. Not you, honey," Alex said.

"Oh really? At which one of your girlfriends did you direct that comment, Danvers?" Maggie replied. "Let Little Danvers fight her own battles and deal with her own relationships unless she asks for help. You want help, Little Danvers?"

"No, I'm fine."

"The kid is fine. Winn, you get the toxicology report back from the DEO?" Maggie requested.

"Yeah, hold on," Winn said, pulling a file out of his bag. He flipped through the file. "The syringe was filled with snake venom."

"Let me see that," Alex ordered taking the file and reading. Her brow furrowed. "Anyone know what a Coastal Taipan is?"

"It's an Australian snake," James replied. "They're deadly. To be fair, just about everything in Australia is deadly. Even the cute things are dangerous. I've done a few photo shoots out there. It's a whole separate ecosystem. They have some amazing spiders and snakes, but most of them will kill you."

"Its venom is a mixture of neurotoxin and myotoxin," Alex said, closing the report.

"Hey Danvers, could you put that in English for those of us that don't speak hot doctor?" Maggie requested.

"At least I'm hot," Alex mumbled carefully giving Maggie a gentle kiss before she addressed the group. "A myotoxin will cause internal bleeding and destroy muscle tissue. The neurotoxin causes paralysis in the heart, diaphragm, and lungs. It causes the victim to suffocate. It's how the snake kills its prey."

"My heart? My lungs?" Winn asked, his voice getting higher as he spoke. Wandering over to a chair, he slumped down into it.

"Sorry Winn," Alex said with just a touch of sympathy. "There was definitely enough toxin in the needle to kill you ten times over. Whoever did this wasn't taking any chances. Kara, you know who's behind this?"

Examining her hands, Kara nodded.

"Okay, well at least that keeps us from making the long list of enemies and checking it twice," Alex said. "So how much longer do we have to wait?"

"Lena and Kalia just got off the elevator. I can hear them talking," Kara replied.

All eyes turn to the door, and in about half a minute, Lena arrived in her wheelchair with her nurse pushing her in. The young Luthor met the gazes of the assembled crowd. James stood and moved toward the head of Maggie's bed as Lena was pushed further into the room, down past the foot of the bed. As an uncomfortable silence stretched throughout the room, Winn straightened in his chair, looking from person to person for a clue as to their next move.

Lena was the one to break the static. "Detective Sawyer, Kara said you were injured but unconscious last she had heard. I'm glad to see you awake. How are you feeling?"

"Like I was hit by a locomotive," Maggie said giving Kara a wink and immediately wincing at the motion. "How you doing, Luthor?"

"Quite well, better every day, thank you for asking." When Alex made a noise that was almost a growl, the only indication Lena gave of having heard it was the lifting of one eyebrow. "Detective, if there's anything at all you need, please let Kara know. L-Corp is not without resources that may escape your department."

"She's good," Alex said.

"Well, that's good," Lena said. "However, if anything changes—"

"She's good," Alex repeated with a bit more volume.

"Alex, chill," Maggie encouraged.

Moving to stand next to Lena, Kalia crossed her arms and stared at Alex.

"Enough niceties I think," Lena said. "Kalia, would you wait outside please?"

"I think I should stay here," Kalia replied.

"Kalia, I don't believe I'll be requiring your services for the imminent future. I'd appreciate it if you'd wait outside while we had this discussion. If I need you, Kara will come and get you," Lena said.

Kara nodded in agreement.

"Not a good idea," Kalia replied, gesturing toward her chin at Alex. "She's armed. I'm not leaving you alone with an armed hostile."

Practically leaping to her feet, Alex strode toward Kalia. "I'm a federal agent. Is that a problem?"

Kalia strode to meet Alex and replied, "Your attitude is, Agent. My patient needs bed rest and low stress. I had to drag her out of bed for God knows what reason, so she could come down here and have you ready to attack her for offering help. I don't know what your problem with her is. My job is to keep her healthy and help her heal. I mean not to let anything get in the way of that and that means federal agents with bad attitudes too."

"Oh yeah!?" Alex asked, taking another step forward.

"Yeah!" Kalia replied stepping closer so that she and Alex were maybe a foot apart.

"Whoa! Time out! Get back to your corners!" Maggie yelled from her bed, cringing from her own voice and the strain. "Someone get in the middle of that."

"Yeah, yeah, cut it out girls," Winn said pointing from the safety of his chair.

"Ladies, we are not fighting here," James said as he came along one side of them.

"Both of you, stop it!" Kara snapped from their other side.

"Kalia, back away!" Lena ordered.

"You can't stay in here with her!" Kalia shouted back over her shoulder.

"Kalia, these are Kara's family. She wants me in here. I'm staying," Lena said simply.

Kalia took a few steps back. She looked Kara up and down. Her eyes went to Winn, then Maggie. She narrowed her vision on Alex then finally settled on James. Turning back to Lena she said, "Family? Sure, I can see the family resemblance."

"Kalia," Lena signaled Kalia back to her, waiting until the woman arrived to speak again. "Surely you understand that blood doesn't make family. This is Kara's family. I need you to wait outside while we speak…please."

Her shoulders slumping, Kalia nodded. She leaned forward, hands on her arms of the wheelchair as she quietly said, "I take care of my family too. I'll be right outside." As Kalia left, she shouldered into Alex, bumping the agent forcefully and kept going.

Kara grabbed Alex when her sister tried to surge after Kalia. "Let it go Alex."

"You saw that!"

"Just let it go," Kara repeated. As the door closed, she said, "Okay, we should all talk. I want to explain to everyone what happened."

As Alex walked back to sit by Maggie, Winn looked at the clear lines drawn across the room. Maggie, Alex, and James were on one side. Kara walked back and forth, fidgeting with her hands and trying to unjumble her thoughts. Lena sat on the other on his left. He caught sight of Alex glaring at him and shrank down a bit.

Standing, he leaned down to Lena and whispered, "I'm glad you're doing better. Please don't sue me or send me to jail. I'm too pretty to go to jail." Then he slunk across the room to stand by James.

Lena struggled to contain a smile.

"Do you have the pager?" Kara asked Lena.

Brow creasing momentarily, Lena replied, "I do."

"May I have it?"

"Kara, no. We've been through this."

"Not to keep," Kara said. "I want to show it to everyone. I'll give it back to you, promise."

Lena hesitated. "You promise that no matter what anyone else says, you'll make sure that this stays in my possession?"

"Well, sure I…" Kara looked across the room at her sister, then slumped into the chair. "Well, fudge nuggets. I don't want to be in the middle of a fight between you two."

"I understand that, darling. I'm willing to work with the government on this. As a private citizen, I don't want to be cut out of this investigation. As a Luthor, I don't want to be cut out of this investigation. That's even more likely. I have considerable resources to bring to bear to this, Kara. I've already put things into motion. I'm not asking for exclusivity. All I'm asking for is to be included in the process. Does that seem fair?"

With a little smile, Kara nodded. "It does. Okay, I'll support you here." Kara rose and walked over to Lena, her hand held out.

Lena reached into the pocket of her robe, taking out the pager and handing it over.

"So, this is where it all started," Kara began. "Well, I suppose it started when Lena got the flowers. They sent us to that warehouse, and we found out that Lillian was behind the ultra-gang that's taking over the waterfront."

"My mother is doing what?" Lena said, pushing up with her arms to partially rise from her seat.

"Hey, what part of 'don't tell Lena' got lost in translations," Maggie reminded the hero.

"Ah, right. Sorry about that. Lena, just sit back sweetie." Kara gently put a hand on Lena's shoulder and encouraged the woman to relax back into her wheelchair. "So when I was at the warehouse I got this pager."

"From the guy you disappeared with?" Maggie asked.

"Sorry, Maggie."

"Damn it, Little Danvers," Maggie shook her head, bring her hand up to her skull against the motion. "What were you thinking? That's evidence in a police investigation. Plus we were supposed to be a team."

"I know. I screwed up. The guy who handed it over to me said that Lillian would text him an address and he would meet her and pick up weapons. I thought I could get the drop on her and take her in. I didn't want anyone to get hurt so—"

"Kara!"

The blonde winced away from her sister's voice. "It was a trap. I got the address, flew over, and there was Lillian alone. I told her I was taking her in, but then she pulled up images on these monitors of all of you."

"She had us bugged?" James asked.

"Not exactly," Kara replied. "Those people I attacked, they were wearing body cameras. She was watching you through them. They had timers she set for them, and when they went off, they would kill you. It was set so that they didn't kill all of you at the same time. I had just enough time to stop each one of you from dying, and Lillian was watching. She said if I were Kara Danvers then I'd know who you were and recognize where you were and be able to save you. She gave me this." Kara pulled the bracer out of her purse, dropping it on the side of Maggie's bed where people examined it. "It was counting down until each of you were killed. As I saved each of you, I had to hurry onto the next person. I didn't know where Maggie was, and I got stuck, but then Alex remembered the bar where Alex was going afterward, and I got to the right neighborhood. I got there after the alarm went off and barely saved her in time. I was rushing off to make it to Lena, and I must have bumped Maggie. I didn't even notice. I'm sorry Maggie."

"Hey, forget about it kid. You saved me. We're good."

"She saved you because she was headstrong and didn't work as a team," Alex reminded Maggie and her sister. "She was the reason you were in that situation in the first place. That was stupid, Kara."

"Recriminations aren't going to help Agent Danvers," Lena said. "Let's finish this discussion and come up with a plan to best thwart my mother's Machiavellian intentions."

"I don't think I asked you for your opinion, Luthor," Alex shot back.

"I'm here because Kara asked for my opinion and because I am a Luthor. As such I'm uniquely suited to deal with my mother. You may not want me here, but you need me here."

"I want you here, Lena," Kara said.

"Enough with kissing her ass, Kara. She said it. She's a Luthor. You're an alien. Just like the rest of the Luthors, she's a xenophobe. I don't know why you're trying so hard. You can't change a bigot," Alex said acidicly.

"Actually, Alex, Lena and I—"

"Kara, we should just finish explaining what happened with my mother," Lena interrupted.

Alex rose, walking over to Lena with crossed arms and staring down at the woman in the wheelchair. "You telling my sister when to talk and what to say now?"

"It's okay, Alex. Leave her alone," Kara said, coming up alongside her sister.

"Kara, it's fine. Your sister is just being protective. It isn't like she's going to become physical with me."

"Um…you don't really know my sister. She might," Kara warned.

"I'm sure it's fine," Lena dismissed.

"So Kara, what happened after you bumped into Maggie?" James asked, hoping to remove some of the tension in the room.

"Well, I dropped the guy trying to kill her two stories and flew over to the hospital, but I was too late. By the time I got here the killer had already gotten to Lena. I could see her with the needle in her neck. I thought she was dead."

"How'd you survive?" James asked.

"I have an exceptional nurse," Lena said with little fanfare. "Tell them the rest, Kara. This is the important part."

Leaning over toward James, Winn mumbled, "Sheesh. She had a needle full of snake venom in her neck. What's the important part?"

"Lillian sent me a phone number after it was all over," Kara admitted.

"Kara, you didn't," Alex said, her voice tense as a piano wire.

"I couldn't just ignore it after what happened, Alex. She'd almost killed you all. I called her."

"Jesus," Alex muttered as Maggie squeezed her hand.

"She told me she wants me to stay out of her business or the people I love are going to die. She knows who I am and she's blackmailing me with your lives."

Everyone but Lena starting talking all at once. They all were telling her not to listen to Lillian, some with more fervor than others. Kara had her hand over her ears though it didn't stop the sounds. It didn't stop the guilt either. If she did nothing, innocent people would be hurt by Lillian. If she did something, those she loved would be hurt by Lillian. She couldn't win. Only Lillian could win.

"Enough, enough already!" Lena yelled. "What Kara did wasn't teamwork, but neither is this. Everyone is upset. We're all upset. We've expressed that. Now let's move beyond it. My mother could care less about petty criminal activities. Whatever she's doing, her motivation has always been the same."

"Her anti-alien hatred," Alex piped up.

"So does this have something to do with Cadmus?" Winn asked.

"That's an excellent question, Mr. Schott. It will be one in a long list of excellent questions we'll need to answer in order to stop her. I can put a considerable amount of L-Corp's resource into looking for my mother. We've already been tracking down Cadmus, but this will help us to narrow down on her a bit. I was honestly under the impression that she'd left National City."

"She never did," Kara admitted.

"Well, CatCo has lots of contacts. We'll start beating the bushes uses this new ultra-gang for an angle. I'll see what we can find out," James said.

"The NCPD already has a task force set up, but I'll get a copy of the files that seem relevant now that we know it's Lillian," Maggie added.

"Alex and I…we…uh…we know some people," Winn said, glancing over at Alex.

"That was smooth," Alex replied with a sigh.

"I'm not good at this. I panic easily," Winn said. "So, quick question. If the guy I was meeting was just a hired killer, does that mean there was no mint condition Star Wars Obi-Wan Kenobi figure with double telescoping lightsaber available for sale?"

"I'm afraid so, Mr. Schott," Lena replied.

"Oh, man!" Winn punched himself in the middle of the chest. "Right here, that hits me right here. That's the insult to injury. That's even worse than the snake venom. Way to kick a man when he's down, Lillian."

There was a knock on the door, and everyone looked in that direction. Kara lowered her glasses enough to look over them and said, "It's Detective Erickson, and he's carrying some files."

"That's got to be the files on the attacks on us. Let him in," Maggie said. When he entered, she said, "Hey, thanks for bringing this stuff over Erickson. I figured you'd have a plan clothes do it."

"And miss a chance to see your girlfriend again?" Erickson replied, winking at Alex. "She going to make it or are you ready to leave her and run away with me?"

"I think she'll pull through," Alex replied with a smile.

He nodded. "Hey, I'm sorry I wasn't on the op, Sawyer. You need anything; you let me know, okay?"

"You getting soft on me, Erickson?"

"Nah, just trying to stay close so I can scoop your girlfriend."

Maggie laughed, immediately wincing. "That sounds like you. You're a son of a bitch. Honey, if you do run off with him the good part is my dick is bigger than his."

When Alex recoiled, Erickson said, "It's true. I'm practically a lesbian. Interested?"

"I think I'll pass for now, but thank you," Alex replied with an amused smile. "I think I've already got the perfect girl."

"Jeez do you got her snowed," Erickson said. "Take care Sawyer."

When the male detective left, Winn said, "He seems like a nice guy."

"Erickson's a good one," Maggie agreed. Alex took a report, and she said, "Those are NCPD property. What are you doing?"

"Interagency cooperation. I'm in the FBI," Alex explained.

"No, you're…" Maggie looked over at Lena who sat watching her with one raised eyebrow. Looking at Alex again she said, "You're not in the NCPD, sweetie, so we need to fill out paperwork before you can read that."

"You planning to turn in Kara for swiping the pager?" Alex asked.

"Crap." Maggie leaned back in her bed. "I don't know how to handle this. Supergirl's rep took a beating with the public, but she was doing okay with us. I don't want to undermine it."

"It's okay, Maggie. It was my doing," Kara said.

"I don't know that it helps us to tell anyone, kid. Just give me until my head stops pounding to think this through. Then I want to give you a full debrief. I'm sure there are details you've left out that are important, but I'm too foggy to think them through right now."

Alex held up a report. "You good with me reading this? I don't want to step on toes here."

Maggie shrugged. "I could probably use the help." Maggie read through one of the reports, nodding and flipping pages. "Okay, they found the gun with the silencer the guy was going to use on me, Kara, and also the discharged bullet. They're running him through the system again. It looks like Supergirl will be in the clear on him."

Kara deflated, rubbing her hands over her face. "Thank, Rao. I've been really worried about this."

"About what?" Winn asked.

"What if this was one giant set up by Lillian to make me attack innocent people?" Kara said. "I mean the guy with you had snake venom, Winn, but he didn't do anything with it. Is having snake venom illegal? Probably not. This could have been a giant screw by Lillian to make me beat up some innocent people. Supergirl already looks pretty dangerous in front of National City. You throw this in, and I'd look like a maniac."

"Actually, that would have been a decent plan," Lena admitted.

"Just having a weapon on a job interview isn't illegal," James added. "The guy could have had a license."

"He did not," Alex said as she looked at James' police report. "He was carrying illegally."

When Kara started praying again, Winn opened his arms and said, "Come here Kara Bear. You need some hugs."

She went to him without question, accepting the hugs and comfort.

"Snake venom for Alex, same kind as Winn," Maggie said, looking through her girlfriend's file.

"Son of a bitch," Alex whispered, walking across the room, Alex slapped a file into Lena's lap. "Explain this."

"Explain…?" Lena picked up the file, but suddenly Alex leaned over, grabbing the wheelchair by both arms and pushing it. The wheels were locked, and it tipped back slightly.

"What the fuck, Luthor! What the fuck are you people up to!? It's just a game to you, isn't it!? We're just toys to you!?" Alex yelled.

Lena shook her head, eyes wide.

"Alex, stop it!" Kara said as she crossed the room, grabbing her sister by the arm and pulling her back. "Leave Lena alone!"

"Stop defending her! You've been defending her since the day you met her! When are you going to figure out she isn't on your side? Given the choice of us versus them, she's a them, Kara. She chose them, and they protect her."

"That's not true!" Kara said angrily

"Kara, she doesn't want you. Stop chasing after her. You gave her a chance, and she rejected you. She rejected everything about you. We're your family, not her, Kara," Alex reminded her sister.

Walking around to the side of the wheelchair, Kara crouched by Lena. "This is getting out of hand."

"I agree. Something's very wrong here," Lena said. "Agent Danvers, whatever you think I'm doing in relation to my family, I can assure you I'm not. Both my brother's assassins and members of Cadmus have tried to kill me on more than one occasion. As far as my family is concerned, I've outlived my usefulness."

"Bullshit!" Alex yelled in Lena's face as she grabbed the arms of the chair again. "What I want to know is how you're involved in this! How are you stringing my sister along!?"

Kara grabbed the handles of the wheelchair to hold it steady. "Alex, back off!" Kara yelled.

"Kara, I'm trying to protect—!"

Suddenly Alex was tossed away from Lena and into the wall. She hit it hard, her back slapping against it and stunning her for just a second. Shaking her head, she pushed off and after her attacker. She started with a feint at the head which was dodged and followed up with a more serious kick to the midsection that was blocked. In turn, she blocked the shot the knuckle strike that came at her throat. When an elbow came at her face from the other direction, she barely dodged and returned the favor feeling air but almost grazing nose.

"Alex, stop!" Kara yelled.

"Kalia, stop it!" Lena called out.

The combatants paid them no nevermind.

"Oh, oh, oh, oh, chick fight," Winn said pointing as he back into the corner behind the door.

"Ladies, ladies, this is a hospital," James pointed out as he approached Alex and Kalia. Seconds later he shot back from a double kick to the gut, one from each lady. Grunting, he hit the wall and slid to a sitting position on the floor.

"Dude, are you okay?" Winn asked.

"Ugh."

"Yeah, that's how it looked," Winn agreed. "Maybe you should try that again in the Guardian armor."

When Kara made to break up the fight, Lena grabbed her arm. "I'll be fine," Kara insisted.

"Entirely, and Kalia will notice. Remember who you are right now, darling. Kara Danvers does not get into the middle of physical altercations," Lena reminded her.

"Alex, Alex, chill the hell out!" Maggie yelled trying to get up but failing. "Winn, do something."

"I'm a lover, not a fighter."

"You're a nerd boy," Maggie responded.

"I'm a lovable nerd boy." Winn shrugged.

The fight had continued, both ladies blocking or dodging most shots and scoring on each other a few times. Kalia was a bit shorter and stockier than Alex, and she lacked reach. Alex seemed to be trying to keep Kalia at length where longer limbs were an advantage. Suddenly Kalia stepped in Grabbing Alex's left arm with both hands. Kalia did an arm drag, pulling Alex's arm forward while at the same time Kalia leaped forward and wrapped her legs around Alex's torso. Kalia's left arm went to the back of Alex's neck. While her right hand held Alex's elbow for just a moment, Kalia clamped down on Alex's right wrist with her armpit and released Alex's elbow, dropping down to grip behind Alex's right knee. As Kalia squeezed her arms and her weight leaned forward, Alex was forced to roll forward over and onto her back. Kalia snapped her other leg over Alex, Clamping down on Alex's throat while also squeezing the arm that was under her right armpit. Alex grunted and tapped, her joints straining and oxygen quickly becoming a commodity.

"Kalia, let Kara's sister go!" Lena ordered.

Kalia looked up at Lena for a heartbeat, then reached down and grabbed Alex's firearm before releasing the Agent. Alex rolled to her hands and knees, taking several grateful breaths before climbing to her feet. She eyed Kalia who held her firearm warily.

"You're holding the weapon of a federal agent," Alex informed the nurse while she rubbed her shoulder.

"I know," Kalia replied releasing the clip and dropping it to the floor then kicking it under the bed. She then popped the bullet out of the chamber before tossing the weapon back for Alex to catch. "You stay away from Miss Luthor because if you hurt her, Miss Federal Agent, the highlights of your days are going to be shitting into a bag."

"Whoa, tough nurses in this hospital," Winn said as he peeked around the door.

"You're done in here," Kalia said, unlocking Lena's wheelchair and pushing her toward the exit.

"That was out of line, Alex," Kara hissed as she paused by her sister.

Grabbing her sister's hand, Alex said, "Ask Lena what's in her police report, Kara. Before you take her side, find out what side she's really on."

Pulling back her hand, Kara replied, "She's on my side."

"You sure about that?" Alex asked.

As Lena's wheelchair reached the threshold of the door, she reached out and grabbed the doorframe. "Stop. Stop!" She turned as best she could, looking back at Alex. "I don't understand this report. Why would my mother do this?"

"You tell us, Luthor. The people that went after Maggie and James had guns with live rounds. The ones that went after Winn and me had needles filled with snake venom. You, though, your mother sent someone after you with something else, didn't she? You were never in any danger, Luthor. Your needle was filled with saline."


	27. 27-You Just Have To Be Understanding

A hand on Kalia's shoulder as the woman pushed a shaken and confused Lena out of Maggie's room, Kara whispered, "I'll meet you both upstairs. I need to take care of something first."

Kalia only paused, nodding, but didn't turn.

Kara closed the door behind Lena and Kalia. She stood for several moments, collecting her own thoughts and doing her best to keep her anger in check. If the last few weeks had shown Kara nothing else, they'd shown her just how dangerous her rage could be. She could hurt a human badly and with ease. The people in this room were some of the last she'd ever want to hurt.

"Kara, let's talk," Alex said, her hand on her sister's upper arm.

Kara spun, pulling her arm away from the hand that more touched than held her. "This is done Alex! The only thing that kept me from kicking your ass back there was that we had a witness. We don't have one right now. I am barely keeping myself in check!"

"Hey, don't you think a calm, quiet discussion would be better than—," Winn's voice died in his throat when Kara turned to look at him, eyes glowing in warning. "Or yelling, yelling is good too. Yelling can be very therapeutic."

"You need to stop treating Lena like she's her mother!" Kara said as she turned back to her sister, pushing Alex and making the redhead stumble backward.

"No more fighting!" Maggie yelled from her hospital bed.

"Kara, she was never in any danger, and there's other stuff you don't know about her, stuff about her medical condition, stuff about her doctor, stuff about her nurse. Max Lord is involved. She's been playing you this whole time!" Alex said, her voice loud but pleading.

Kara grabbed her sister, pinning Alex against the wall with one arm in the span of a heartbeat as she hissed, "Stop it! I don't want to hear you say anything else about Lena. She is a victim here, just like the rest of us. If Winn's father was behind this, you wouldn't be attacking him. You'd understand that just because Winn's father is all…all…cray cray is no reason to blame Winn! No one blamed you when Jeremiah broke into the DEO database and stole the alien registry."

"That was Lillian's fault," Alex replied quickly as she strained futilely against her sister's arm.

"But not Lena's! Judge her on her actions, not on anything else. Stop blaming her for anything that her family has done." Kara let Alex go as she took a step back. "She nearly died for me, Alex. She's in that wheelchair, hoping to learn to walk again because she stepped in front of a gun for me. That's the person she is. That's the person I know. If you don't want to get to know her, I can't force you, but stop attacking her. She's my family. All of you are my family too. It makes me sad I can't have all of you together. She tried. She came down here and put herself out, but after the way you treated her, I don't know if she'll do so again. I can't blame her if she doesn't want to try again."

"Kara, how are you even spending time with her after what she said to you? She's a xenophobe just like the rest of her family," Alex said, rubbing at her throat and chest.

"It was a misunderstanding. We talked. We're good. She accepts all of me, both sides of me obviously. You just saw that. It was…" Kara shook her head, her eyes drifting around the room. "I can't really explain it right now Alex. Just trust that Lena wasn't rejecting me because I'm an alien. That was just a big misunderstanding. I shouldn't have flown away without talking to her. Then she got upset and locked me out of her room. It got all messy, but we finally talked, and we cleared it all up. We're fine. Lena and I are fine. Let it go."

"I don't understand," Alex replied.

"You don't have to understand, Alex, you just have to be understanding. That's what family does. Now can you be supportive of me here?"

"I…I want to be Kara. I look at her, and I see the things she's hiding from you. You're just so trusting. Maggie almost died, you almost left her for dead to go save Lena who was never in any danger. God, that makes me crazy!"

"Fine, be angry about that, but with Lillian, not Lena. You saw how shaken Lena was about that. She's being manipulated by her mother, same as we are. Why can't we all be on the same side? Lillian is tearing us all apart. She's manipulating me. She's manipulating all of us. Lillian is a master manipulator. Maybe this is what she wanted, us wondering if Lena could be in league with Lillian."

"Well, if Lillian wanted to cast doubt, she did that," James said pushing off from the wall, his hand still on his stomach. "Honestly, who knows what Lillian's motives are. Division within Kara's group of friends sounds likely. Maybe she needs Lena for something. Maybe she loves her daughter and didn't want to her hurt."

Alex snorted. "Unlikely."

"Maybe she does in her own way," James said.

"You know, when crazy's in your family, your love doesn't always look like other people's love looks. Sometimes the best you can hope for is not being murdered along with everybody else." Hands in his pockets, Winn studied his shoes. After several moments of silence, he lifted his head to find everyone watching him. His face twisted into a smile. "I'm talking about Lena."

"Yeah, yeah we got that man," James said walking over to Winn and clapping his friend on the shoulder. "We're all talking about Lena. I think it's unlikely that Lena is working with her mother, especially after she took a bullet for Kara."

"Two," Kara corrected.

"Two, my bad," James said. "I don't know all that's going on with her medical condition like Alex does, but I say we let Kara deal with her relationship like an adult. That's what I'd want if I were Kara."

"Thank you, James," Kara replied, walking over and hugging the man with a bit too much force and making him grunt.

"Easy. I'm still a bit sore. Maybe I'll take up boxing. Hanging out in hospitals around women seems to be detrimental to my health."

"Chicks are tough, right?" Winn said with a small laugh.

"Definitely the ones we know," James agreed as he looked around the room.

"I'm going to go. Lena was pretty shaken when she left, and I want to support her. I said what I needed to say."

As Kara headed for the door, Alex took a few steps after her but stopped when her sister did, half turning and tensing in warning. Alex raised a hand, holding it out in a peaceful gesture as she said, "Kara, just stay and talk this out with me. Maybe I overreacted. Okay, I overreacted, but there are things I don't know, and there are things you don't know. We don't go into an op half blind, and this is what this feels like. I feel like we need to have a sit-down and fully vet this situation. We have too many unknowns here. It's going to get someone killed."

"Not right now," Kara replied. "Right now I'm pissed, and I'm going to snap and hurt someone if you say something you shouldn't about Lena again. I need some time and space and then I'll…I'll text you later."

"Kara, I know you're upset. I know you're angry, but we have no idea what Lillian is up to. We don't know if we have time to waste. You want to be pissed at me for stepping over the line fine, be pissed at me, but we need to stick together. This is your family. Everyone in this room is your family. Don't leave," Alex urged.

"Lena is my family too, Alex. If you push me on that, if you try and make me choose right now, I don't think you'll be happy with the outcome." Without another word, Kara turned and left the room.

When her sister's presence was just a memory, Alex said, "Fuck. Can you believe that?"

"Yup," Maggie replied. "You fucked up Danvers."

Alex sighed as she turned to face her girlfriend. "Okay, look I know that I shouldn't have—"

"No, you talked enough, more than enough, earlier. I get a turn now. Come and sit your fine ass down on this bed and listen for a few minutes." When a sour-faced Alex had slumped onto the bed, Maggie continued. "You overreacted. Lillian Luthor is the fucking devil, and we all know it. That kid on the seventh floor knows it better than any of us."

"I know Kara—"

"What part of shut it and listen couldn't you keep in your brain for twenty seconds? Now, I'm not talking about Kara. I'm talking about a kid who's younger than Kara. I'm talking about Lena." Alex looked like she wanted to say something, but Maggie raised her eyebrows and a finger in warning, and Alex backed down. "I think we all forget that sometimes. She acts like she has ice water in her veins and she runs a multi-billion dollar company, but she's a kid too, right? Only Lena didn't fall to Earth and get placed with a nice family to get protected. She lost her mother and got scooped up by Mommy Dearest, likely with the wire coat hangers and everything."

"You think Lillian Luthor beat her?" James asked, stepping closer as his brow drew down heavily over his concerned eyes.

"You ever see that girl crack a smile when she wasn't doing it for a camera?" Maggie tilted her head to the side, looking from one person to the other. "Look, I don't know what her home life was like, but I dealt with a lot of kids and a lot of domestic abuse victims when I was a beat cop. They all had the ability to turn it on for an audience and turn it off. Lena has her public face, but if you watch her when people turn away something changes. Try looking over your shoulder as you're walking away from her sometime. See if you recognize her. As to what exactly went down when she was a kid, I can't say. That's something for her to share with a friend, and none of us in this room make that list. I do know two things. One: If we're worried about whether she'll be on our side or Lillian's side when it all hits the fan, maybe we need to stop treating her like the enemy, and I'm counting myself in that. Two: Outside of Kara, I don't know that she has any friends and she could probably use some."

As Maggie's words stopped, they hung heavy in a silent room. Everyone took them in, incorporating them into their new reality for Lena Luthor. There was an image shift; no longer was Lena the all-powerful, uncaring, domineering CEO who skated through life on her charm, good looks, and money. Now there was a child adopted into the Luthor house, lost, scared, indoctrinated but perhaps not fully so. Was she the good Luthor as Kara had always claimed she was? Was she someone they could get to know for their own good? Was she someone they could get to know for her good?

Hunched over and nodding quickly, Winn said, "She did make a pretty cool black burst generator. I bet L-Corp has lots of cool tech." He looked up, eyes shifting around the room as if seeking approval or fearing condemnation. When the faces were neutral to curious, he added, "You know, stuff we might need to defeat Lillian."

"Yeah, right," James said, a hand solidly clapping Winn on the shoulder once again. "She's done great interviews for CatCo, and a few good photo shoots when asked. The woman has been nothing but professional with us, and we've never found that anything she's said has been false. The only time we've had to print a correction or retraction was when we jumped the gun and printed something about her, like her arrest in helping Lillian escape."

Maggie held up her hand. "Yeah, I had the pleasure of taking her, printing her, processing her that day. I thought she'd sue the city over that. When it turned out that video of her stealing Kryptonite was faked—"

"You're welcome," Winn interjected.

Maggie shot him a look and then continued. "When it turned out that evidence was faked, the police commissioner marched down there himself. You know what she said?"

"That she wanted your ass in a sling?" Alex asked.

"You're still not allowed to talk," Maggie replied. "No, if she'd said that I'd have been in the hospital with my ass in a sling. She said something about these things happening and that given the evidence she could hardly blame the police force for acting as they did. Then she got all professional, stuff about wanting L-Corp and the cops to have a good relationship, blah, blah, blah. There were no threats or lawyers. The mayor called her, and she said the commissioner and she had spoken, and the incident was in the past, and she wanted to keep it there. She did talk to him about some zoning thing from what I hear, so she isn't all sweetness and light. She leveraged the situation."

Alex pointed at her mouth, eyebrows high, waiting for the go-ahead from Maggie.

When Maggie nodded, Alex said, "Fine, so she isn't the devil, A.K.A. her mother, but she isn't a saint either. Lena looks good in every way. Playing nice with the cops after her arrest, I bet that will do her better than threatening them with a lawsuit. It's not like the money from a lawsuit helps her. Like you said, Maggie, she leveraged the situation with the mayor. She's a smart businesswoman."

"True, but that's hardly a crime Alex," James reminded her. "I'd say that's an achievement, something for which she should be commended. Luthor Corp should have gone down in ruin after Lex, but she saved it. I bet the people who work there are pretty darn grateful for that."

"None of that makes her a good person."

"Or a bad one," James responded to Alex.

"Fine," Alex said. "You don't know anything about what's going on with her medical team though."

"Like the nurse that just kicked your butt?" James' smiled was broad and winning.

"Yeah, she just kicked—" When Alex glared, Winn stopped talking, and the smile fell off his face. He cleared his throat saying, "You would have had her if Lena hadn't interfered."

Alex grumbled. "I want to learn that move. That was…pretty sweet."

"Does it really matter if Lena's nurse is G.I. Jane?" James asked.

"She's involved with Max Lord," Alex answered flatly.

"As in the maker of Red Kryptonite, knows Kara's secret identity Max Lord?" James asked.

"The one and only," Alex said with a single nod.

"Well," James said slowly, measuring his response before he began to speak at a normal rate. "They're both in the technology field. Lena has no idea that he did anything to hurt Kara. I think that's where all of these secrets are playing against us. We're blaming Lena for associating with someone who's an enemy of Supergirl even though she doesn't know it. Until a few days ago, she didn't know who Supergirl was…not really."

"Without showing you the picture, I can't show you that it wasn't a normal business meeting James. Maggie and Winn saw it, and they can attest to the fact that it was weird. Something is up there," Alex said.

James looked to Winn and Maggie, both of whom nodded.

However, Maggie also said, "We don't really know what was going on though. The picture was weird, but weird doesn't mean bad. We could be reading too much into it. It wouldn't hold any weight in court."

"We're not trying her, Maggie," Alex said.

"It kind of feels like it," Winn responded. When Alex leveled him with a glare, he felt the pressure but refused to cave under it. "I've been her. Well, I haven't been her, her, but I've been her. It got shuffled around foster homes, and people knew who I was. It was hard being judged for something you didn't do, something you couldn't control. There's a point where you almost feel like, 'Well if you're going to blame me for it anyway, maybe I should just do it.' You get tired of getting the bad without any of the good that goes with it. It can make you forget who you are. I don't want to do that to somebody. If she's bad, sure we catch her and protect Kara. If she's not, I don't want to drive her there. I'm better than that. I think we all are."

Alex rolled her eyes, sighing loudly and muttered almost under her breath, "Fuck." She looked at Winn and said, "You, sometimes I don't know if I hate you or love you."

"You love me. I'm too lovable not to love. Who wants a hug?" Winn asked approaching Alex with his arms extended.

"I will shoot you."

"Your weapon is still empty," Winn reminded her. "I think it's hug time."

"This finger!" Alex said jumping to her feet and thrusting her index finger toward Winn. "All I need is this finger to kill you. You've read my file. You know I can do it too."

"Awww." Dropping his arms, Winn looked up at her like a kicked puppy. "Why do you have to be that way? We were having a moment."

"You can kill me with that finger if you want Danvers," Maggie said, waggling her eyebrows.

"Hey, TMI." James held a hand in front of himself, shaking his head. Looking just at Alex he said, "You think maybe you could go talk to Lena and make amends?"

Alex nodded. "I'm still nervous about a few things, but maybe I should talk to her about them instead of talking about her."

"There you go," James said nodding.

"I think you should give her some space, for now. Listen to your sister," Maggie said.

"I'm worried about Lillian," Alex replied.

"Noted," Maggie said, gesturing to her own face. "We've all seen Lillian in action before. She's a lot of things, mainly twenty pounds of crazy in a five pound bag, but one thing she isn't is brash. Whatever she's planning, that woman plays the long game like no one I've ever seen. She's definitely up to something, but we're not going to see it again for a while. We'd be smart to marshal our forces and do some recon for now."

"So we just sit around and wait?" Alex asked, her face souring again.

"Not wait. You know better than—"

"I hate waiting," Alex grumbled.

"Damn Danvers!" Maggie chuckled. "Usually you like foreplay. You're really in a mood aren't you?"

"Again, TMI," James said.

"Hey, I know what we can do to pass the time," Winn said with a smile. "I have Cards Against Humanity in my bag."

"You mean your purse?" Alex asked.

Hand to his chest and a look that clearly showed his offense, Winn said, "It's not a purse. It's a very manly bag, right James?"

"Oh yeah," James agreed. "It's a satchel. I might have to replace my bag soon. I was looking at a similar one."

"Thank you, James," Winn said smiling broadly. "I'm going to get the cards out of my manly satchel."

When Winn walked over to dig the cards out of his bag that was in the corner, James leaned over and whispered, "It's a murse."

"Totally a murse," Alex agreed.


	28. 28-You Are My Moon

Sitting side-by-side on Lena's hospital bed, Kara explored each of the knuckles on one of Lena's hands with one careful fingertip. She traced gentle circles; just enough pressure applied not to tickle, enough to say 'I'm here. You're not alone. Connect with me.' It's meant to be comforting, and it is to an extent, though Lena' countenance still seems to radiate an aura like pricks on a cactus, unwelcoming and dangerous. It's something the CEO generally saves for boardrooms and less welcome members of the press.

"You're sure you're up for doing this right now?" Kara asked Lena, watching the tension around the other woman's eyes, around the other woman's everything.

"Apparently I was fine, never in any danger. Why am I more upset to find out my mother had no intention of killing me than that she was trying to kill me?" It was the kind of thing she couldn't have said to anyone else in this world, an unfiltered truth, but Kara knew Lena at this point. Lena didn't share other thoughts. She didn't share how Lillian would likely mock her for being upset. After all, Lena had finally done something right, had finally made herself useful. She was a pawn to be used against one of the most powerful beings on the planet. Lillian probably thought they should celebrate.

"Hey, come here," Kara said seeming to sense Lena's unease and gently urging the other woman's head onto her shoulder. "Maybe you're upset because you think your mother is messing with you?"

"Definitely," Lena agreed. "Well, more so because I'm worried she's messing with you."

"With me?"

Lena nodded into blonde hair, soft and oddly warm. "You'll think I'm not in any danger. My mother loves me and wouldn't kill me. So perhaps the next time you have people in danger and can't save everyone, you leave me off the list of those to save. Then when you find my body, what would that do to you Kara?"

Kara pulled away, a tremble beginning to travel through her body as she stared Lena, unable to respond.

"I probably shouldn't have said anything. Just forget I said that," Lena said patting Kara's hand. "Would you like to make that call now?"

"No, I'd like to eat a gallon of ice cream, curl up with a nice musical, and cry myself to sleep," Kara replied, trying to curl into Lena's lap.

Gentling Kara into an upright position again, because there was no way she could force the blonde to do anything, Lena kissed Kara's cheek and replied, "You're welcome to go home and do that if you'd like. I'll be fine, and we can do this tomorrow."

Curling into Lena's shoulder with a nuzzle, Kara said, "No. If we're always hiding from your mother, we'll always be hiding. There will always be someone or something trying to kill one of us. You get that, right?"

"I do. This thing, this us, it will be incredibly difficult. Us in a relationship is one of the…it's hard, Kara. Are you sure you're ready for this?"

"Uh, am I ready for it?" Kara asked mockingly. "I carried Ft. Roz into space. That's a giant spaceship, more like a space station. You ever carry an entire space station, Ms. Luthor?"

"No, but I did create another life. I expect that was just as difficult."

Kara smiled, kissing Lena gently. "Well then, it sounds like we're qualified."

"Eminently qualified," Lena agreed.

Grabbing the tablet, Kara handed it over to Lena. "I'm glad you're vertical for this now. It makes things better."

"Don't like me horizontal?" Lena asked, one eyebrow raised and a curve to her lips. She caught Kara's stare, and the smile fell from her lips. "Sorry. That was—"

"Don't tease me."

"Right," Lena said clearing her throat. "It's not that I'm not interested, you know. It's just that—"

"You don't owe me an explanation, Lena. I heard your no, loud and clear, last time. Whatever we do, whenever we do it, if we do anything, we'll figure it out together. It's just…Maybe it's just you being you, but I'm uncomfortably eager at times, and I don't need a reminder. I remember."

Lena smiled kindly, perhaps apologetically, before she asked, "Is there going to be some kind of wise Kryptonian phrase for this circumstance?"

"Definitely not. Kryptonians didn't have sex."

Lena chuckled, preparing the call on her tablet, but not dialing it. "Right." Still smiling, she looked over at Kara, the smile falling off her face yet again. "Are you…you're serious, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am."

"But how did you…your people…" Lena exhaled, collecting her thoughts while she put down the tablets and did something with her hands that did nothing to demonstrate what she was trying to illustrate. "Kara, darling, how did your parents make you?"

"Science, Kryptonians engineered their children to fill a particular role in society. We were genetically programmed for a task, and only a set number of children as needed within society were born."

"Well, that sounds quite efficient. I like that. Less fun perhaps, but efficient. So they'd need someone to be a, I don't know, a banker and they could make that?"

Kara shook her head. "Basically, we had three groups, three castes I suppose. You were created to either be an engineer, a scientist, or a warrior."

"Ah." Lena nodded. "You're a warrior."

"No, I was created to be a scientist."

Lena's eyebrows shot high on her face. "I…you're from a technologically advanced alien society, and you genetically engineered to be a scientist?"

"Yes." Kara waited, but Lena's face didn't change. After about half a minute, Kara snapped in front of the other woman's face. "Hey, you still in there?"

"What? Oh, certainly. I was just thinking about you. So, you actually learned science on Krypton?"

"Of course. I was in school there until I was twelve and had to leave. Then I landed on Earth, and I had to blend in. You know, act human."

"But do you remember what you learned on Krypton?" Lena asked.

Kara shrugged. "I don't really think about it. The Danvers taught me to hide. If I didn't hide, I could be discovered. I leave science to scientists like you. My past is in my past."

"Well yes, but you could—"

"Are you going to make this call?" Kara asked, pulling up the tablet to Lena and tapping on it.

"Hmmm?" Lena looked at the tablet, gripping it in her hands as if she'd never seen it before. "Oh. I'd totally forgotten. Of course." Lena handed Kara one of the earbuds, taking the other one for herself. She hit the number, entering the code afterward.

After a few seconds, a voice came across the line, and a room came into view. "Hello, Mother of mine. How are you?"

"I'm well? Where are you?" Lena asked as she still couldn't see her daughter, just the expanse of dorm room. There was some bed which was not as neatly made as she would have liked, two bookshelves with books and other assorted sundries, posters on the walls, and the back of a closed door showing a dark green coat and watching scarf.

"Under my desk, hooking something up," Lori's voice replied, as a hand popped up waving around. "You're calling early."

"Not without reason," Lena said, leaning her shoulder into Kara with a light nudge.

"Hi, Lori," Kara said.

"Kara!?" Lori's pale face, framed by black hair pulled back into a ponytail, and bright green eyes popped up from under the desk like a prairie dog. "Kara!"

Kara waved.

"Mom! Kara! Mom and Kara!"

"Your education is costing me a fortune. Is that really the best you can do?" Lena said, shaking her head.

"Hold on!" Lori disappeared again amid some scuffling, and then a loud bang as the whole screen jumped. "Mother Fu…Jumper!"

"Do we not curse?" Kara asked quietly.

"It's frowned upon, especially cursing in English. That sounded like it hurt though," Lena replied.

Rubbing the back of her head, Lori popped back up and sat in her chair. "Sorry about that. I wanted to get that last wire connected."

"Playing with NASA?" Kara asked with a smile.

Lori laughed, waving a hand at Kara. "NASA. That's so last year. So you two made up? Things are good again? Are they really good?"

"You're a meddler, Lorelai," Lena replied.

"I care," Lori replied, hand over her heart. "Since when is caring a crime."

"Caring isn't a crime. I'm worried most every other thing you do is a crime. Are you staying out of trouble, darling?"

"Yes, Mother," Lori said in her most exhausted voice as she slumped back in her chair. "Kara, tell her to lay off me. I'm a good kid."

"She is a good kid, Lena."

"Oh ho ho," Lena waggled a finger at Kara. "She is an amazing young lady, but don't you fall under her spell. She is a trickster. She will play you like a fiddle, Miss Danvers."

Wrapping an arm around Lena's shoulders, Kara leaned her head against Lena's. Her smile, which was already quite wide, grew a bit wider as her eyes flashed between mother and daughter. "I'm just a sucker for the charms of you Luthor women."

Gasping, Lori bounced up and down in her chair with the enthusiasm of a kindergartener hopped up on candy as she asked, "Are you two together? You look like you're together. Mom, are you two together?"

"Of course we are, Lori. We're sitting right here, together, talking to you. We're right here, together," Lena replied, with one raised eyebrow and an otherwise placid face.

"Oh! Don't you play with me, Mother! We're honest with each other, and you're playing with me. If I had a girlfriend, you'd expect me to tell you, wouldn't you?"

Eyes squinting as she leaned a bit closer to the tablet, Lena said, "You're eleven."

"That fact in no ways destroys the validity of my question," Lori countered.

Lena sighed. With her left hand, she tossed a bit of her hair around, trying to rub out the last of her earlier stress. Her daughter generally didn't cause her stress, frustration yes, but not stress. It was another female relative that had her on a sensitive setting right now. When gentle fingers combed through the other side of her hair, it felt too good for Lena to resist a shy smile. Her eyes flicked to the screen, seeing the excitement and growing smile on her daughters face at this continued intimacy between her and Kara.

Looking at Kara again, Lena said, "You know, it's not too late for you to run."

That just made Kara smiled more. The blonde looked from her, then to Lori where her eyes took on a softness that was mirrored across the miles. She looked back at Lena and said, "Where else in this universe would I want to be?"

"Don't say I didn't warn you," Lena said, gesturing toward the tablet.

Kara's shoulders hunched up with excitement. Looking at the tablet again she said, "We're together."

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Lori shrieked with happiness; arms thrust above her head as she spun three times in her chair and then launched herself into motion, running laps around her room. She'd disappear from view, reappearing again as she'd cross in front of the camera then disappearing as she kept moving. He joyous noise would ebb and flow as she'd move closer and further away with each round of the room.

Lena popped out her earbud as she watched her daughter's theatrics

"Great Rao above!" Kara said, fumbling with the chord at her earbud before managing to pull it out, pulling at her lobe. "That was so loud and high pitched. I think I could have heard it without the earbud." She leaned in toward Lena. "Super hearing. I'm not entirely kidding."

"I warned you that she was enthusiastic. I don't know where she gets that energy. When I was her age, I was entirely well-behaved. I did not raise my voice or ever run indoors. Running was for appropriate outdoor physical activities with proper supervision."

"That sounds like it sucked," Kara replied simply.

"Well, no it…" Lena seemed to consider. "I suppose it was rather ghastly all things considered. I mean, we had many bright moments, but unbridled was not a word that could ever be used to describe our childhood or anything in our lives. Perhaps that's why Father had affairs. You can describe my mother as bloodthirsty, driven, singularly-focused but certainly not passionate." Worrying at her thumb pad with her teeth, Lena asked, "This, what she's doing, that's better right? I know you're not exactly…local, but that's normal?"

Kara leaned in, smiling and giving Lena a peck on the lips. "In every galaxy I know, excited, giggling children, even loud ones, are quite normal. I think someone is doing something right. Good work, Mom."

Lena's grateful smile seemed to appear as a bit more of the day's tension melted away.

Lori reappeared in front of her monitor, having dropped back down into her seat. She spun several times, her face animated with obvious excitement. Her mouth moved, but neither woman was wearing an earbud.

"Hmmm?" Lena grabbed the earbud she had dropped on the bed.

"Oh, she said this makes up for you not letting her get that flying squirrel," Kara explained.

Picking up Kara's earbud, Lena held it out to the blonde and whispered, "Try only to hear what you should be hearing."

"Sorry," Kara whispered back as she put in the earbud.

"Pardon, darling," Lena said. "Kara and I missed what you were saying. Your enthusiasm left us temporarily deaf."

"So you're for real together together not just like together together…together?"

Head turning sharply to her right and eyes slightly wide, Lena stared at Kara. "Goodness, perhaps the shrieking did damage my hearing. I haven't a clue what she just said. Do you?"

Nodding, Kara replied, "I think I can answer her question." She leaned in again, pressing her lips against Lena's. It was just lips on lips, and it only lasted for a few heartbeats, but it was clearly more than friendly. When it ended, the blonde turned back to the tablet and said, "We're that kind of together together. Get it?"

After a moment of looking stunned, Lori squeezed her eyes shut and waved her hands in front of the monitor as she said, "Ewwwww, and thank you for clarifying but ewwww." She looked at Kara again. "That's my mom. You kissed my mom."

"I know. I kiss her all the time," Kara said with a smile. "Want me to do it again?"

"Ah! Not in front of me." Hands pressed to cover her eyes, Lori tossed herself backward in her computer chair. The chair tilted what may have been too extreme of an angle. The teen's reaction definitely showed it was, hands and legs flailing as she yelped, hooking a foot under the desk and lurching forward again, palms slapping down on the desk. "Oh, my God."

"Are you all right?" Kara asked with great concern.

"Have you been eating sugar again?" Lena asked more accusation than concern.

"I could have died there. Did you see that? I think I need a new computer chair. I'm going to order one, okay Mom?"

"Lori, are you eating sugar again? You know how you get when you're eating sugar," Lena repeated her question from earlier, eyes trained on her daughter.

"Sugar? Me?" Lori's eyes flicked for just a moment to Kara before returning to her mother. "Mom, you told me not to. You remember the Crunch Berry incident?"

"I think that both I and that Bed and Breakfast in which we stayed are scared for life after the Crunch Berry incident, Lori. Mind you stay off sugar. Your youthful exuberance is enough without adding any supplements to the mix. Sugar has the same effect on the human brain as cocaine."

With a very serious look on her face, Lori nodded. Biting at her lower lip, she smiled and her expression changed, lightened, and she asked, "So, tell me. Tell me. I want to hear all about you guys. This time more telling and less showing please."

Kara laughed. "You know, if we do spend time together, all three of us, there will be showing."

Lori squirmed under the weight of the idea. "I just need time to build up a resistance to it. I know my mom dates, but she has never introduced me to anyone. So far it's been more like Hoag's Object. You know, it's out there, but is it one galaxy or two? What's that strange darkness? What caused it to form? I have to do research, and I end up with more questions than answers."

"Oh, Hoag's Object? Well, actually that's—"

"Stop it!" Lena vaguely said while pretending to sneeze into the bend of her elbow and stare daggers of Kara, stopping the blonde from speaking.

"Gesundheit," Lori said.

"Danka," Lena replied with a pleasant smile to her daughter.

"Bitte," Lori responded in kind. "You're not getting a cold in the hospital, are you?"

"No, I'm fine my little worry wart. Thank you for caring though, darling. So, what do we have going on at school?"

"No, no school talk right now. I want to hear about the two of you. I asked first." Lori looked back and forth between Lena and Kara, bright green eyes waiting for a response.

"She's not going to let this go," Lena said.

"Well, that makes two of us," Kara said, dropping her head onto Lena's shoulder. "So, how we got together. Well, it was a team effort for sure. I had a very smart girl reach out to me and give me lots of encouragement when I was on a very low place. It kept my spirits up and kept me trying when I was ready to give up on a relationship with this lady. More importantly, it helped me understand that Lena was pushing me away to protect me. I never even considered that. I thought I was being rejected, and it hurt so much."

"It can be hard to understand how someone who cares so much for you keeps you so far away," Lori said with a look of resignation and several nods. "Our family is a mess though, you know with Grandma and Uncle Lex I mean. Sometimes pushing you away is an act of love, and you need to learn how to fight your way back. That's an act of love too. I can teach you."

Though her face betrayed nothing, when Lena exhaled there was a noise. It was quiet, little more than an exhalation, but not to Kara's hearing. There was a catch to the noise, a stutter that told another story. It said Lena heard what else Lori was saying, that the statement wasn't about Kara, or not just about Kara. It was about Lori's whole life, and it hurt. It hurt Lena she wasn't prepared to discuss at the moment, but she felt. Lori deserved better, and Lena knew it, wanted to give it, and felt that her best wasn't good enough. That was a tough pill to swallow for any mother.

Choosing her words carefully, Kara lifted her head and replied, "I look forward to your advice. I know I'm willing to do whatever it takes not to let your mom get away. Somedays she only has a few minutes to see me, but a few minutes with your mom is better than hours with most people. Don't you agree?"

Lori's head bobbed up and down quietly, her smile bright. "Yeah, other people kind of suck. My mom is awesome."

"We say yes, not yeah," Lena said, but her voice wasn't strict, and she released the tablet with one hand, sliding her hand over Kara's so that their fingers intertwined.

"Yes, Mother," Lori replied a bit dramatically, though her smile didn't falter. "Kara, continue with your story."

"Um…oh! I came out of work the other day, and Kalia was waiting for me."

"She was?" Lena turned her head sharply to look at the blonde.

Adjusting her glasses, Kara nodded at Lena, then returned to looking at Lori. "Kalia is your mom's nurse in case you don't know. Well, she's one of them. So, I came out of work, and she gave me a ride home and an earful about your mom. She told me to write your mom a letter because letters are more personal than e-mails. I think the letter helped." A bit hesitantly, Kara looked to her left.

Squeezing Kara's hand, Lena said, "The letter helped. You have a beautiful way with words, Miss Danvers."

"Maybe she would write for a living," Lori pipped up. "So the letter did it?"

"Uh…" With a half-smile on her face, Kara turned to Lena. They hadn't actually discussed the official story because they weren't telling anyone but Lori. They probably should have discussed this. What happened next was Lillian sending flowers that were a threat and Kara showing up as Supergirl. The Supergirl thing was right out. Kara had no idea if the Lillian thing was, so she just stared blankly at Lena.

Tilting her head to the side, Lena said, "Your grandmother sent me flowers which caused the police to arrive on the scene. The detective in question is dating Kara's sister, and the information made its way back to Kara."

When Lena looked at Kara with a raised eyebrow, Kara picked up the story, "Yeah, heh, heh. My sister's girlfriend Maggie had to cancel their date. She called my sister, and my sister called me. I kind of barreled past security here, and Lena let me stay when they tried to get rid of me. Then we talked. We needed that."

Lori had been nodding, but her smile grew, and she leaned back in her chair. She was cautious this time, not leaning back too far. Her fingers stapled in front of her and she raised one eyebrow, an odd little smirk on her face. "So, you're saying that in the end, it was Grandma Lillian that got the two of you together. Does any part of you want to tell her that, maybe send her a thank you card?"

Pointing at the screen, Kara spoke to Lena as she said, "Okay, she is freakily like you when she does that. Are you certain she isn't a clone?"

"I'm fairly certain that Earth technology isn't capable of that, Kara. Were it, L-Corp would be involved."

"Well, maybe she's the product of some alien cloning experiment," Kara suggested. "She really could be your clone."

"That would be so awesome," Lori said a bit breathily. "Mom, if I were a clone, you'd tell me, wouldn't you? You wouldn't keep that from me, would you?"

"Of course I'd tell you. Kara, please don't fill her head with this kind of nonsense. I'm going to end up getting a call from the school about unauthorized use of the science lab after hours and missing lab rats…again."

"That was one time, Mom, one time," Lori said, holding a single finger up to the camera so that it took over most of the screen.

"It was twice."

"Nuh-uh. It was once." There was a pause while the Luthor women stared at each other, their gazes locked vying for dominance. Finally, Lori's eyes drifted down and away as she said, "The first time it was mice, not rats."

"Ah, well that makes all the difference. Clearly I'm exaggerating. Please, just no unauthorized experiments until the semester is done and then we'll have you in a new school, and you can scandalize a whole new group of educators. Deal?"

"So, where are we going for vacation this year?" Lori asked, ignoring the question.

Lena sat with a raised eyebrow for several moments, then dropped it and replied, "I was thinking Greece, though my condition will dictate our plans to a certain extent. I expect I may not be up to much hiking."

Lori nodded, her face darkening a little bit as she looked down at her hands. Then perking up she looked back at Kara. "Kara, have you ever been to Greece?"

"I have actually. I travel a lot for…uh work. I'm a reporter, so I travel a lot and I, uh, report on things that happen in other places, interesting things in interesting places and, uh…"

"That's a yes," Lena said extracting Kara from her awkward verbal turmoil.

"Well, you can see it again," Lori said with a big smile. "Unless we end up going someone else, then you can see that. Vacations will be even more fun with three of us."

Heads snapping to face each other, Lena and Kara stared as they were met by that assumption.

Clearing her throat and looking at her daughter, Lena said, "Lori, darling, I don't know that Kara will be able to join us on vacation."

"Well, why not?" Lori asked. "Kara, why not?"

"Uh, well, you see the thing is…I….you see vacation time is…When adults take vacation we need to…" Kara puffed up her cheeks, blowing out air. She looked to her left and said, "Help me."

"Lori, Kara and I just started to do whatever it is we're doing. We don't even have a name for it yet. Vacationing together, her meeting you, that's a big step. I don't know that we're ready for that or when we will be."

"Well you're dating, right?" Lori asked as she leaned a bit closer to the screen.

"I haven't even left the hospital," Lena replied. "My situation is hardly conducive for dating. I think what we're doing is something we'll have to visit upon my release from this facility."

"We can't date while you're in here?"

Shooting Kara a look for the question, Lena said, "I don't believe this is the time or place to discuss this."

"But you two are together, so you will be dating," Lori said.

"Of course we will be," Kara said, responding to Lori but nodding at Lena. "Right?"

"Kara, not now." Lena cleared her throat, gesturing toward the tablet with her chin.

Looking back at Lori, Kara smiled a bit nervously. "Right. Sorry, sorry. I think we should discuss this later when—"

"Are you two going to date other people or just each other?"

Kara paused, staring at Lena, suddenly finding that a very interesting question. "Lena?"

"Hmmmm?"

"Your daughter just asked you something."

"Something I do believe we weren't going to discuss at this time," Lena replied.

"Well, I don't want to date anyone else. Do you?" Kara asked.

"Do you, Mom?"

Lena looked back and forth between her daughter and Kara, finally rolling her eyes. "I don't even know how I'm going to have time to date Kara. I'm far too busy."

"Oh, come on," Kara said with a grin. "We have lunch and dinner together all the time. We pretty much have bene dating. We just haven't called it that. Now we can just admit it."

"So you'll be dating exclusively," Lori said with a definitive head nod. "So, Kara, that makes you my mom's girlfriend, right?"

"Dear Lord in heaven." Lena took her hand back from Kara's pinching the bridge of her nose. "This is why we can't have a discussion like this in front of her Kara. She's just going to…Lori, do we even need to be here for this conversation? Do you just want to plan the rest of our lives for us, darling?"

"Sure!" Lori rubbed her palms together, biting her lower lip again. "Okay, I'm thinking you take it easy, date for a year make it two. We'll vacation together, all three of us. Then you get engaged. You'll get married a year later. We'll have two weddings of course. The first one will be here in Europe with me. That will be the important one. Then you can have the less official but more expensive one over there in the Americas with all the media coverage. Kids, I'm thinking it's Kara's turn to get pregnant this time, though if you want another birth child, I'm totally good with that Mom. I figure you adopt too. I want a lot of little brothers and sisters and you two aren't getting any younger."

While Kara stared with mouth wide open unable to speak, Lena patted the blonde's cheek and quietly said, "This is why I warned you against having this sort of conversation in front of her. You're ill prepared for Lori 'Tsunami' Luthor, aren't you?"

"I really, really am," Kara admitted.

"My middle name isn't Tsunami," Lori said spinning in her chair. "That would be cool though. Mom, can we change my middle name to Tsunami?"

"You need to show justification for a name change, Lori. We'd need to convince a judge there is reason for the change. In this case, I'd just have to leave you alone with aid judge for about half an hour, and I have no doubt he or she could be convinced. You, child of mine, are a force of nature."

While Lori beamed back into the screen, there was a knock at the door.

Kara glanced over her glasses and said, "It's Kalia, and she's holding sneakers."

Looking down at the time on the iPad, Lena said, "Ah, PT. Just a moment, Kalia! Lori, we need to go, dear. I'll call again after my PT session."

"Can Kara stay and talk to me?"

"Sure, I—"

"No, because Kara is going to PT with me," Lena replied.

"I am?"

"You are," Lena said, looking over to the corner of her room.

Kara followed the gaze, seeing the braces that were leaning there and gasping. "Your braces! Yes! Lori, I'm going to PT with your mom!"

"What's going on? Is Kara on sugar now?" Lori asked, one eyebrow raised and a finger pointing and wiggling around on the screen.

"Usually," Lena admitted. "Darling, today I get to try out my braces. It is the next step, so to speak, in my therapy."

"Your mom is going to walk."

"You're walking today?" Lori asked, her face holding an odd mix of excitement and anxiety.

"I am though not far and definitely not fast. I'm sure I'll be exhausted afterward but—"

"I'm going to video it for you, Lori," Kara said hoping to calm the girl. "I'll video it since you can't be here, and I'll send it to you right away, as soon as I can, okay? That way you can see just how awesome she is doing."

Tension seemed to melt off the girl as she nodded briskly and her smile returned. "Thanks, Kara. You'll call me when you're back in the room so we can talk again. You'll both call me?"

When Lena looked at her expectantly, Kara nodded. "We'll both call you. I'll be around."

"Awesome!"

"Now, wonderful child of mine, I need to get to PT, and I'm going to kiss this wonderful woman again so unless you want to see—"

"Love you! Later!" Lori said, disconnecting their call.

Kara laughed. "Well, now you know how to get out of conversation with your daughter if I'm around. How convenient is that?"

"Quite, but also…" Tilting her head to the side, Lena moved in and kissed Kara firmly on the lips. It was much firmer, more intimate, than the kiss in front of Lori before. When it ended, she said, "Thank you for offering to video the PT session. I hadn't thought about that mattering so much to her, but she lit up at that idea. She and I miss out on so much of each other's lives."

"I'm glad I can help, especially if I get rewarded in kisses. You know, Switzerland isn't that far a flight, and I don't fly commercial. If you ever need me to go down there for any reason…" Kara waited while the thought settled in. "No pressure. I know it's early. I mean we're not really anything right now. Apparently, we're getting married in three years, but…" Kara laughed, seeing how Lena would take that.

Laughing back Lena said, "Well we have to since you'll be getting pregnant."

"Ah…that could be an issue."

"Unlike everything else that came out of my child's mouth?" Lena shook her head. "Don't worry about it, Kara. I've told you; she's excitable. We, whatever this is, it's new. Just relax and let us figure this out over time. You're the first anyone she's met, so she's going to be excited. She'll settle down. Now, would you mind opening the door for Kalia? We've been rude for too long."

"Right. I almost forgot." Kara slid out of bed, opening the door for Kalia with a sheepish look.

The nurse looked the blonde up and down. "You took long enough. Having a good time?"

"What? No we were just uh…there was a phone, well a tablet and…we, uh."

"Leave her alone, Kalia," Lena said as she moved to slide her legs off the side of the bed. "Are you certain I'll be walking today? It doesn't feel like it."

Placing the sneakers on the floor near Lena, Kalia walked around to the far side of the bed and grabbed the braces in the corner by the bed's head. "You're ready. It's going to take a lot out of you. No shenanigans tonight you two, understand?"

"There are no shenanigans going on," Lena said shaking her head. "Honestly, you have a wild imagination."

"Kara, get Ms. Luthor some socks, please," Kalia asked. Kalia began to put the first brace on. "You need to tell me if anything hurts or if you have tingling, okay? These should be tight, constricting even, but they shouldn't hurt or cut off blood flow. Don't think you're being brave by dealing with pain. If a brace hurts, it isn't doing its job. Do we understand each other?"

"Always," Lena agreed.

It took several minutes for Kalia to get both braces in place, but eventually, Lena was ready to go. Kara grabbed the tablet along with her own phone, and Lena had her phone for the trip. PT was on the third floor, so just a short elevator ride away.

"You excited?" Kara asked Lena while they rode down.

Lena shrugged.

Hand on the woman's shoulder, Kara asked, "Are you nervous?"

"Certainly not. I'm just going to walk. I've been doing it all my life. Why should I be nervous?"

Kara could hear Lena's heartbeat, too rapid to be anything but excited or nervous and Kara was betting on nervous, now.

"Well, I'm a bit nervous," Kara said. "I mean, I know you can do this, but I'm still nervous. It's just been a while so…will you hold my hand?"

Looking up at Kara, Lena's eyes softened. "If it will make you feel better, certainly," she said, taking Kara's hand in her own.

"Thanks, Lena." Kara smiled, her hand in Lena's looking over to see a smile along Kalia's jaw when a small noise of satisfaction reached the Kryptonian's hearing.

They reached the floor for PT, and Lena did her usual exercises. Kara videoed it all deciding to send the whole thing to Lori. The girl might just fast-forward to the walking footage, but since Lori and Lena had so little time together, this might all matter. Finally, they got to the part of PT that Lena hadn't done before. She was brought over to a set of parallel handrails, her wheelchair locked on either side, and Kalia assisted her to stand before moving the chair out of the way.

Lena held herself, arms locked against the rails as she held herself upright. Her body shook a bit with the effort. In front of her was her therapist, and Kalia stood behind her. Kara stood to the side, tablet in hand, videoing the process.

"Okay, Ms. Luthor," the therapist said. "Slide one foot forward and then put a little bit of weight on it. Nurse Bishop is right behind you. You won't fall."

Nodding with a grim determination on her face, Lena slid her right foot maybe a foot forward. She leaned her body weight forward a little bit, shifting it just slightly onto her right leg.

"You can put weight on that leg, Ms. Luthor," the therapist urged. "Those braces will support a lot of your weight. You're doing great."

Still nodding and panting a bit, Lena put some weight on her right leg, thrilled that it didn't immediately collapse under her. She managed to school her face mostly to neutrality, though more so to an expression that showed the amount of physical strain she was under. Slowly she slid her left foot forward equal with her right and then past it.

"Lena, you're doing it. You're walking!" Kara said, only not clapping because she had a tablet in her hands.

Lena made a small, very high-pitched noise that sounded a little bit like 'uh-huh'. Mainly it sounded like it took a lot of effort to make, or like it had snuck out while she was exerting a lot of effort. With her left foot in front, Lena shifted her right foot forward, repeating the process.

"You're doing it," Kara breathed, then looked back to Kalia. "She's doing it."

"Of course she is," Kalia replied, but the woman had an obvious look of pride to her.

The walking only made it six feet before a sweaty and exhausted Lena was happy to return to her wheelchair. Still, that was six feet further than she had for weeks, six feet further than it was possible that she might ever again. The elevator ride back to the room was a very tired Lena, an incredibly excited Kara, and one very amused Kalia. Back in the room, Kalia removed the braces and agreed that Lena could rest for a while before placing her lunch order.

Kara and Lena sat in bed together again, Lena having shown Kara how to send the video to Lori in encrypted fashion. Kara watched the video again herself, excited again by what she saw. Lena had walked. Lena had walked, and she was there. Lena was going to keep her promise. Lena would walk out of here.

Stopping the video, Kara asked, "Ready to call Lori again?"

"I just need to rest a little bit more first," Lena replied with her eyes still closed. "That took a lot more energy than I expected it to, and I had expected it to take quite a bit."

Wrapping an arm around Lena's shoulder, Kara pulled her into a hug and said, "Do you feel okay?"

"Yes, just a bit like Neil Armstrong, I suppose," Lena replied. When Kara squeezed her shoulder, causing Lena to open her eyes and see the blonde's confused expression, Lena said, "One small step for man, or in this case woman. It felt like quite a large step today, Kara."

"Ah, your moon landing. Yes, that was quite significant here recently, wasn't it?" Kara said, nodding her head.

They sat in silence for several moments before Lena admitted, "You know, I was thinking that this kind of conversation still takes me off guard. I suppose, in time I'll get used to them. I was so used to certain things being said by Kara, and other things being said by Supergirl. This blurred line is…odd. Do you know what I mean?"

"I suppose," Kara said, her voice sounding as if her mind were elsewhere. "You know the moon here does many things. It creates the tides, the ebb, and flow, the constant push and pull in our lives. As amazing as the days are here, and I need the power of the sun, the night would be so dark as to be unnavigable with normal eyesight without the moon. The days would be shorter, only six to eight hours instead of twenty-four hours with the effect from the moon's tidal friction for all this time. Can you imagine having days so short instead of the amazing full ones we enjoy? Without the moon, the Earth's axial tilt would vary tremendously. Everything would be all out of wack. The moon also creates eclipses which can make me powerless. Still, when I put all of that together, do you know what that makes me think?"

"That you don't get to call me a science nerd anymore, Miss Danvers?" Lena said a bit sleepily from Kara's shoulder.

Kara smiled, "I'll always get to call you a science nerd. You would have been brilliant even by my planet's standard. No, what I was thinking was that in some ways, you are my moon, Lena."


	29. 29-So Not a Nurse

Arms hanging at her sides and hands in loose fists, Kalia stood on the balls of her feet in front of the closed hospital room door. Her right foot was slightly forward. Her balance was even, shoulders steady as she moved a bit, her weight shifting back and forth. Brown eyes watched the woman in front of her, but she didn't stare intently. She held eye contact, then her own gaze flicked about watching for any hint of movement that might signal danger. To the casual observer, it might look like a natural meeting or perhaps a tense one. It was one wrong move away from a fight.

Alex sighed loudly, her hands in plain sight and palms out as she sensed the very real threat from the woman in front of her. "Look, I just came here to—"

"Apologize. I know. I heard you the first dozen times," Kalia said, her voice completely impassive and her body language not changing. "And I told you, it's not going to happen. You go into that room through me. You ready to try that?"

Moving just her head forward, Alex asked, "Can I talk to my sister?"

"I don't know. Can you?"

"Oh, you're that person." Looking at the door, Alex waved a hand at it, and a bit more loudly said, "I just want to apologize!"

"What are you doing?" Kalia asked.

'"I…" Since 'Trying to get my sister with her x-ray vision to pay attention to me.' didn't seem like a good idea, Alex just dropped her hand, shook her head a bit, and said, "I'm not going to cause any trouble. I won't raise my voice. My hands will even stay in my pockets if that will help. It's been pointed out to me that I may have overreacted and taken out my anger on the wrong person."

"May have?"

Moving her jaw back and forth to try and release the tension, Alex said, "Okay, you and I got off on the wrong foot."

"The one I stuck up your ass?"

Eyes closed, Alex took several cleansing breaths. She was in a great place when she came down here. Maggie had spoken to her yesterday and again today. She knew she'd stepped over the line. What mattered now was getting everyone on the same side, and that was working together against Lillian.

"Yes, that foot. Thanks for that. Felt great," Alex said with a wry little smile she didn't feel. "Hope we can do it again soon. Next time I'll bring the lube."

Kalia snorted a sort of smile on her lips.

Heartened, Alex added, "Actually, that take down you used on me was impressive. I've never seen it. What style was that?"

Kalia narrowed her eyes slightly, but replied, "Brazilian Jiu Jitsu."

Slowly, Alex nodded. "Right…makes sense makes sense. I prefer judo and Thai kickboxing."

"You have a long reach," Kalia said.

They eyed each other for a few moments, both looking like they might say something else when a voice caused Alex to turn.

"Alex, what the heck are you doing here?"

"Kara," Alex said turning to face her sister who was walking down the hallway toward the room. "I was just…you're not in Lena's room."

Kara held up a large white bag from Noonan's. "I went to pick up dinner, but you still didn't answer my question. Why are you here especially when I'm not here?"

"She wanted to get in and talk to Ms. Luthor," Kalia supplied.

Inhaling sharply, Kara tensed up and surged forward at her sister. "You tried to talk to Lena!? You tried to get in to see here when I'm not there!?"

Hands held up and stepping away until her back hit the wall, Alex said, "Hey, I didn't know you weren't in there. Kara, I've sent you dozens of texts since yesterday and called you five times. You've been ignoring me. It's about dinner time, so I thought you'd be there. I wasn't trying to sneak around you, I swear. I asked to speak with you. Tell her." She looked over at Kalia. "Tell her. Come on, tell her."

With a shrug, Kalia admitted, "She did. She even waved at the door for some reason."

"It's still not okay," Kara said huffing in her sister's face. "Lena doesn't need to hear from you again. She needs to heal, and your negativity isn't going to help with that."

"No negativity today," Alex assured. "I'm here waving a white flag. I've come to apologize."

"For real?"

"For real. Can I speak with her?"

"Well…" Kara considered the question, then replied, "That's not for me to decide. That's Lena's choice. I can ask her."

Kalia cleared her throat, eyes narrowing a little bit.

"And if she says yes, am I going to have to fight my way in there?" Alex asked.

"No," Kara replied, looking at Kalia and then back at her sister. "I've seen you two go at it. I don't think you can fight your way past Kalia." Kara pulled out some take-out, handing it over to Kalia, then entered Lena's room, closing the door behind her.

Checking the contents of her container, Kalia's mouth twitched for a moment. When she spoke, she was still looking at the food. "You want to try now? My hands are occupied."

"I'm good. I really didn't come here to fight." They stood awkwardly for a few moments and then Alex asked, "What'd you get?"

"Hmmm?"

"Food, what did you get? It smells good."

"Oh, bourbon barbecue ribs, sweet potatoes fries, and the mashed cauliflower and cheese."

"From Noonan's," Alex said.

"From Noonan's," Kalia agreed.

"Damn." Alex rubbed her hands together. "Noonan's has great ribs. I haven't had them in…my girlfriend's a vegan. I don't have to eat that way, but we eat at my place or her place together a lot. When you're a couple, you try and—"

"Why are you talking to me?"

"Uh…small talk? I don't know, making conversation I guess. It's polite, right? I know we got off on the wrong foot, the one up my ass like you said, but there's no reason that we can't at least—"

"Don't talk to me. I don't like you. You're prejudiced. You act like a damn bigot, and I don't like bigots," Kalia explained. "I don't need you to like me. Let's not try to be friends, or acquaintances, or people who don't want to spit on each other. Let's not pretend. Let's just not."

Alex took a step back, shocked by the accusation. "I…I'm not prejudiced. I'm not a bigot."

"You're not."

Head shaking, Alex found herself blinking rapidly. She worked with a diverse group of people. She worked with people from other planets. Her sister was from another planet. How could she be less bigoted?

"You treat Miss Luthor like the enemy because of her last name. You blame her for what her adoptive mother has done. If you knew anything about their relationship, instead of blaming her for an accident of birth, you'd never treat her this way. You blame her for what her brother has done. You don't know Miss Luthor. You are judging her, prejudging her, based on the deeds of others. What do you call that?"

"Well it—"

"Rhetorical question, I'm not done," Kalia snapped. Her voice was sharp, commanding, but not overly loud. She tensed for just a moment before returning to her ready, though not relaxed, stance. Even holding a box of food in one hand, there was something that said, 'A Styrofoam container can be a deadly object.' "As far as I can tell, you're the closest thing your side has to a Lillian Luthor, just change out the word alien with Luthor. Those are the textbook definitions of prejudiced and bigotted. Do you have a smartphone?"

"I…I…I…"

"Do you have a smartphone?" Kalia repeated, a bit louder, though not yelling, and slightly more slowly.

Still shaken, Alex managed to nod though her head was more making circles than going up and down.

"Good. Look up the words while you're killing time today. Then, look up what Miss Luthor has done with her life. Find out who she is despite everyone her family has pushed her to be. Oh, look up Sisyphus while you're at it if you don't know who that is. He sinned, but Miss Luthor hasn't unless being born is a sin in this world. They're both pushing an endless weight uphill for eternity. His was a boulder, but hers is her last name with everyone piling crap on her for it. Get the hell off her shoulders. She already has too many people piled on there. You're crushing her."

Mouth open, not sure how to even begin to form a response, Alex stared. She was trying to defend her position, at least her actions when the door opened interrupting her thought process.

"Hey," Kara said. "She'll talk to you." Kara stepped into her sister's space until their bodies almost touched. "This isn't a second chance with her Alex; this is a last chance."

"…uh…"

"Give me your sidearm," Kalia said.

"What?" Alex's head snapped over to Kalia. "I can't do that. This is my federally issued weapon. I can't just hand it over to some…some…nurse."

"You don't go in there armed," Kalia said.

"Kara, you understand that there is no way I can…" Looking into her sister's eyes, Alex knew the answer. She sighed and handed over her sidearm to Kalia. "I'll expect this back, undischarged, when I leave."

"The only one I'd shoot with it is you," Kalia said, giving Alex the first sincere smile the DEO agent had seen. "Boot."

"What?" Alex asked.

"Hand over the one in your right boot too," Kalia clarified.

With a nod, Alex bent down and pulled the one from her boot out, handing it over to Kalia. "This one is personal, but please don't shoot anyone anyway."

"Same deal as before," Kalia replied. "Give me the knife in your right pocket."

Tilting her head to the side, Alex replied, "You want to search my underwear too?"

"I think your sister can protect Miss Luthor from what you've got in there. Knife."

Grumbling, Alex pulled the folding knife from her pocket and slapped it into Kalia's hand.

Kalia placed it on top of the take out container which was being crushed down from the weight of the arsenal. "Now zipper your jacket."

"Why?"

"Do it," Kara said.

Shaking her head, Alex zippered her jacket halfway up.

"All the way," Kalia said. When Alex had done so, she nodded and said to Kara, "If she tries to go for her inside left pocket, you yell out. If you do, I'll make sure she's more than a visitor here."

"Isn't the Hippocratic Oath to do no harm?" Alex asked.

"That's for doctors. I'm a nurse," Kalia replied.

"Bullshit you are," Alex grumbled under her breath as she allowed Kara to lead her into the room.

Lena was sitting in her wheelchair, a table and food in front of her. She didn't look up when people entered the room, just sipped her drink. If not for the tension along her shoulders and in her neck, the way one eyebrow cocked up in a less than friendly acknowledgment of one of the newcomers, one could have said she wasn't aware of their presence.

"Food good?" Kara asked, her hand settling on Lena's forearm and giving a gentle squeeze.

At this Lena did lift her face, her smile kind and eyes light as her gaze fell on Kara's face that smiled in return. "Excellent. What would I do without…" For just a moment, Lena's eyes flickered over to Alex then back to Kara. "Noonan's?"

"You'll never need to find out," Kara replied. "Noonan's will always be here for you. Anyway, I spend half my paycheck there, so they're not going out of business anytime soon."

Her smile broadening, Lena held Kara's gaze for another few moments before looking over at Alex. "Agent Danvers."

"Miss Luthor I…Lena. May I call you Lena?" Alex asked as she walked further into the room.

"It's my name," Lena replied noncommittally.

"Well then I'm Alex," Alex replied deciding to take it for permission as she pulled up a chair and took a seat a few feet across from the woman in the wheelchair. "Now Lena, the reason I'm here is—" Suddenly Alex found herself dragged back several feet at high speeds, barely able to stay in her seat and the face of an unhappy blonde was inches from hers.

"You do not step out of line here. You will treat her with respect. Lena and I spoke, and this time I decide when I step in and no one stops me. If I need to make you leave, you don't leave through the doorway."

"Well, how am I supposed to…?" Eyebrows snapping up, Alex said, "Kara, we're on the seventh floor."

Poking hard enough with each word to leave deep bruising in her sister's shoulder, Kara replied, "Make good choices Alex."

Alex was jettisoned forward to stop suddenly in front of Lena, once again barely staying in her chair. Alex thought about what was on her mind; what she wanted to say; what she needed to say; what wouldn't get her thrown out a window. Finally, she settled upon saying, "I'm not a bigot."

A forkful of food raised halfway to her mouth, Lena replied, "Congratulations." Then she continued to eat.

"Bigots don't listen to other people's views. Their minds are already made up. I do talk about things and discuss them. I don't always happen to agree, but I talk, and I listen. About you though, I have been prejudiced. Your brother, what he did to Kara's cousin, that was terrifying. He nearly killed him and almost destroyed Metropolis in the process. When you came to National City, the whole…there were a whole bunch of people I work with who were on high alert."

"In the FBI," Lena said with a little smirk.

"Sure, let's go with that," Alex replied. "You were thoroughly vetted."

"And what did you find out, FBI Agent Alex Danvers?"

"What did you tell her about me?" Alex asked looking up at her sister.

"That you're my sister…and maybe a few bad words since yesterday," Kara admitted.

"They weren't all that bad," Lena added. "None of them would have gotten her mouth washed out with soap."

"I called your mother some words that were 'mouth washed out with soap' worthy," Kara told Lena.

"I'm sorry to have missed it," Lena said with a smile. "Go on Agent Danvers."

"You could call me Alex."

"I could," Lena agreed.

"O-kay. So, what we found on you was not much and nothing interesting. Well, some of it was impressive. You were adopted by the Luthors at the age of four when you birth mother died. On your birth certificate, your birth father was listed as unknown. You were sent off to boarding school at the age of four when Lionel Luthor died. You graduated from MIT at nineteen with a degree in Engineering. Upon graduation, you went into private research with Jack Spheer where you remained until you brother Lex's incarceration for thirty-seven consecutive life sentences. You took over as the head of Luthor Corp, moved the headquarters from Metropolis where Superman is to National City where Supergirl is. You've renamed it L-Corp, and now here we are. Quite frankly, you're a bit of an unknown."

Dropping her fork into her container, Lena wiped her face with her napkin before placing it back in her lap. "So my complete lack of doing anything suspicious left you entirely suspicious of me, is that right Agent Danvers?"

"Well…" Holding back the reflex to say, 'Last name Luthor' Alex instead said, "You moved your company to National City where Supergirl lives."

"Hmmm." Lena nodded. "Is that where most notorious criminals come to do their dirty deeds, directly under the watchful eye of the Girl of Steel?"

"You could have gone anywhere, Lena."

"True. I looked at options up and down both coasts," Lena admitted. "I even looked internationally. When all was said and done, National City made the most sense for my company. I then sent my proposal for the move to the board for approval…oh, I mean the evil board of nefarious and underhanded deeds. They look just like the normal board, but they all have goatees…even the women."

When Kara giggled, Alex barely managed not to shoot her sister a dirty look. "Fine, so it was a financial decision. Still, can you at least understand why people were nervous about you?"

"About me? No," Lena replied. "About a Luthor prior to investigating me? Yes. You did your homework. I am who I am. All I want is to be judged on my actions, and I truly believe that if I had a different last name, if I'd been adopted by different people, you'd treat me far better. Agent Danvers, I'm not even saying that you should have given a Luthor trust. I'm not Kara. I long ago stopped expecting the world to be fair. I'm saying I earned your trust several times over, and you still treat me with mistrust. You don't seem like one of Kara's family members. You seem like one of mine."

Alex's head snapped back almost as if she'd been slapped. "I…Lena, I didn't come here to trade insults with you. I came here to apologize."

"And yet I haven't heard one."

Alex nodded. "You're right. I'm sorry. I overreacted before, and I apologize for that. Also, I apologize that more weight has been put on your last name than on any of your actions. My girlfriend has been reading me the riot act about that since yesterday."

"Your girlfriend?"

"Maggie," Alex clarified.

"The one who arrested me?"

"Um…yes."

"Huh." Lena seemed to consider that. "You know, I like your girlfriend better when she isn't arresting me, Agent Danvers."

"Not a fan of being handcuffed?" Alex asked with a chuckle.

"Well, I didn't say that."

"Oh Great Rao," Kara mumbled, not quite quietly enough for human hearing not to pick it up.

"That got awkward fast. Leave it to me," Lena said as a smile curled the edges of her lips.

Alex looked back at Kara, seeing red rising up the blonde's neck and creeping along her sister's cheeks. "Kara, what exactly—"

"Agent Danvers, Alex," Lena said, drawing Alex's attention to herself once again. "Let's call a truce. At least until my mother is safely in jail, under the watchful eye of the FBI or some other TLA, let's call a truce."

Kara cleared her throat. "What's a TLA?"

"Three Letter Acronym," Alex and Lena said together.

"Okay, don't do that too much. You too getting along too well might be even weirder than you too getting along poorly," Kara stated.

"You'll be fine, darling," Lena assured her. "Now Alex, for the sake of your sister, her identity and her well-being, allies?"

When Lena stuck out her hand, Alex took it. "For Kara's sake, absolutely. Lena, please don't hurt her. I'm not going to threaten you. I've done enough of that. Kara is the nicest person in the universe. I don't think that's an overstatement."

"I don't think it is either, but I am going to hurt her Alex." When Alex stiffened and tried to pull away, Lena grabbed hold with her other hand and held Alex fast. "We all hurt each other in life. You hurt her just yesterday. I know it wasn't your intention, but it happened. I won't ever try and hurt Kara. She's my friend, my best friend, and I truly care about her. She's a better person than I ever have any hope of being and—"

"That's not true," Kara interrupted, a sad cast to her face.

"We'll have to agree to disagree on this Kara. I just hope you can keep reminding me what kind of potential we have to treat each other well. You inspire every person in this city to be their best selves should they choose that path. I don't ever want to lose sight of that."

"Lena I…" Glancing at her sister, Kara looked down at her shoes and nodded.

"So we're good?" Alex asked when Lena released her hand.

"No, but maybe we'll get there one day," Lena replied. "For now we'll be civil I hope. If we can't be." Lena looked over at Kara.

Alex followed the gaze and Kara was gesturing toward a window with her thumb.

Rubbing the back of her neck, Alex said, "I like doors."

"As do I, Alex," Lena agreed.

"Well, thank you for your time, Lena. If you're feeling up to it after dinner, perhaps we could all meet again in a more progressive fashion. I promise to be civil." Alex nodded at Lena, then Kara. "I'll see myself out…that way."

Alex was most of the way to the door when Kara said, "Hey."

Alex turned, overjoyed to be surrounded in one of Kara's hugs. She returned it eagerly.

"I love you," Kara said. "I never stopped loving you, even the tiniest bit. For a little while there, I didn't like you very much."

"Maybe I wasn't acting very likable. Next time I'm not likable, you remind me, okay?"

"Okay," Kara agreed, nodding into her sister's shoulder. "I'll throw you out a window."

"Jesus," Alex laughed. "Please catch me."

"No promises," Kara replied.

Squeezing her sister tighter, Alex said, "I love you, Kara."

The sisters hugged while Lena became entranced with her food again, giving them the illusion of privacy.

Stepping outside the room, Alex said to Kalia, "I kept my voice down, and my jacket zipped."

"Congratulations," Kalia replied. "Now you get your knife back still closed and your pistols back with the bullets still inside them instead of inside you."

Taking her weapons, Alex put them all back into their places. She eyed Kalia's food and said, "I was nice to Lena. We made a truce. We shook and everything." There was no response so she asked, "Can I get one sweet potato fry?"

"No. Now leave before I shoot you."

Slapping her hand on her sidearm, Alex said, "You gave me back my pistols."

"Right, your pistols," Kalia said tossing a sweet potato fry into her mouth.

Walking away, Alex grumbled as she said. "Bullshit, she is so not a nurse."

Inside the room, Kara and Lena ate together in relative silence for several minutes. Even though Lena had a head start and Kara had three meals to eat, Kara caught up and finished first.

Smiling over at Lena, Kara said, "You're eating really well. How is that feeling?"

"I get full fast, but I'm eating real food. Right now, texture is pretty exciting."

"Are you going to finish?"

Lena shook her head. "I didn't even touch my fries.

Smiling, Kara took the container and began to eat.

"Honestly, flying, bulletproof, shoot laser from your eyes, those are all lovely powers, but the way you eat is the best super power of them all. You know that, right?"

Smiling, Kara nodded. "It's my favorite. Food is so good. People are always worried about what they eat but not me."

"You don't ever gain weight?"

"Well, I did until I finished growing," Kara explained. "Not since then. I think I've looked pretty much the same since I was nineteen."

"No cholesterol issues?"

Shaking her head, she shoved more fries into her mouth and mumbled, "Unless there's a solar flare, I can't get sick."

"You know Kara, if I didn't adore you, I'd hate you. I always thought my brother's hatred for your cousin was jealousy over good hair. Maybe they just sat down for lunch together one day." An odd look settled over Lena's face and she grew quiet.

"Hey, are you all right?"

"Hmmm? Oh, of course. Just…we've a lot to do and…thinking," Lena said, reaching out and patting Kara's arm.

Kara nodded, not satisfied with the explanation but knowing Lena would share when she was ready. "So, thanks for talking to Alex. She was really out of line before. You could have just told her to go to heck."

Lena smiled at Kara's turn of phrase. "Never. I would never do anything to get between you and your sister. I envy you that relationship. If I could have Lex back, even for twenty-four hours, I'd give anything for that."

"Well, you could…I mean…maybe…" Kara's voice faded off, realizing she had nothing to suggest to the woman whose insane brother was trying to kill her from prison.

As the silence stretched on, Lena admitted, "There are days I wish he were dead."

"You don't mean that."

"Oh, I do. You can visit your brother's grave and mourn him in a way you can't visit him in prison. This isn't even about the way people treat me. It isn't about your sister or anyone else. It's about me. I've suffered a loss that feels so much like a death, and yet I can't fully recognize it. There are days I wonder if he's still alive inside his own mind, and I feel nothing but selfish and guilty for not trying to reach him."

"Lena, he's trying to kill you."

"It doesn't change my feelings. I feel truly blessed to have Lori, and not just because of who she is. Lex was slipping away for so many years there, and I tried to hold onto him. He'd become paranoid, irrational, frightening really. It makes sense now. I wasn't with him on his anti-alien views, and he's turned me out for years before the world saw the monster inside. Losing Lex would make me question my ability to be loved if I didn't have Lori to remind me that I can at least do a decent job as a parent." Taking a deep breath, Lena said, "Well that was dreadfully cheery. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to use the restroom."

Kara sat quietly poking at the food in her container. Eventually, she just dumped everything back into the Noonan's bag, cleaning up after their meal. Shoulders slumped, she let out a big sigh and looked at the closed door saying, "I love you, Lena."


	30. 30-The Long Game

"This is ridiculous. I can walk!" Maggie complained as she sat in the wheelchair, arms crossed and a full-on glower on her face.

"Sure you can, but you're not supposed to Mags," Winn said with a smile. He leaned to the side, whispering up at James, "Where's Alex. If she gets up, I'm not stopping her."

"If she gets up, I don't think you can stop her man," James replied. Speaking to Maggie, he added, "Just relax a minute, pretty lady. Alex will be back in a minute, and then we'll all head upstairs."

"Don't 'pretty lady' me Olsen. You're prettier than most ladies I know," Maggie snapped, staring up at him.

"Heh, heh. You're pretty James," Winn said, the smile falling off his face when James glared at him. Lips pursed, he scratched the back of his neck and looked away.

"Did you take you painkillers?" James asked Maggie.

"It's just Aleve," Maggie said, crossing her arms tighter and squirming. "I cracked my skull open. Well, technically Kara cracked my skull open for me. Still, you think I'd get some better painkillers. What I really need is a beer and a shot. Hey." She smiled up at the guys, looking from one to the other expectantly.

"No, Maggie, no," Winn said shaking his head back and forth quickly. "I'm pretty sure Alex would shoot us if we brought you alcohol. You're not supposed to drink in the hospital…I think. Right James?"

"Right. No alcohol in the hospital. Want me to push you into the hallway so we can look for Alex?"

"You touch me; I break your thumbs. Anyone pushes me, and I break their thumbs," Maggie threatened.

"You and Alex are kind of perfect for each other, you know?" James pointed out.

Maggie smiled sweetly and sincerely.

The door opened, and Alex strode in. "Okay, we're all set. Let's head up to Ms. Luthor's room."

"They won't get me a beer, babe," Maggie complained. "How long am I going to be stuck here? Can't I at least get a beer?"

"Not while you're in the hospital. We'll have an evaluation in the morning. Maybe we can get you out tomorrow," Alex replied as she moved behind the wheelchair.

"If you were stuck in the hospital, you'd want beer," Maggie reminded her girlfriend.

"If Alex ends up in the hospital it's probably alcohol poisoning," Winn whispered to James.

"What did you say?" Alex said looking up sharply at Winn.

"Nothing. I'm an idiot," he answered quickly.

Still staring at him she said, "You know I'm armed, right?"

He nodded. "I've met you. I assumed."

"Good assumption." She replied, putting her hands on the handles of the chair and saying to Maggie. "Ready to go for a ride?"

"You're not going to break Alex's thumbs?" Winn asked, shrinking back a little when Alex looked at him again.

"Nah, I need all of Alex's digits…recreationally," Maggie replied with a smirk.

While the boys tried and failed to get the image out of their mind, Alex cleared her throat. "Let's stay on task and get this over with. The sooner we do this, the sooner we can get a plan together against Lillian. As much as I hate to admit it, Lena Luthor probably has a better understanding of what goes on in her mother's disturbed mind than the rest of us do. She'll be a good resource." The words, 'if we can trust her' were left unsaid but hung heavy in the air.

The four of them rode up on the elevator to the seventh floor. They made their way to Lena's new room where only Alex had been so far. This time Alex unburdened herself of weapons at the door, handing them over to Kalia without argument, and they were all ushered inside. Within the room, Lena and Kara sat side by side, Lena in her wheelchair and Kara in a chair. Their shoulders touched, and they each held one side of a tablet, pointing and talking, both smiling.

Kara looked up at the newcomers, whispering something to Lena who gave one nod and took the tablet while the blonde rose still smiling. "Glad you could join us," Kara said giving out careful hugs, especially careful in Maggie's case. "How are you feeling Maggie?"

"Thirsty."

"You want some water?" Kara offered, a sincere and open look on her face.

"Ignore her Kara," Alex replied. "She's trying to get a beer. Let's just get down to business so we can get this over with."

Kara shrugged with one shoulder. "Want me to get some more chairs?"

"Sure that—"

"We'll stand," Alex said, cutting off Winn.

"Or that. Standing is good," Winn added, mainly to himself.

"You gentlemen are welcome to sit on the bed. It's a fairly comfortable surface once you're able to get out of it," Lena said.

"Thank you, Lena," James said, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Yeah, thanks, Lena," Winn agreed, perching on the edge of the bed a few feet from James. "There's room Alex."

"I'm good."

"I could get you a chair," Kara offered.

"I said I'm good. Let's just get down to business." Arms crossed, Alex leaned against the wall.

Kara sat back into her chair a bit heavily, relaxing a bit when Lena's hand touched her arm.

"Perhaps we should start with what we know of my mother's newest business dealings," Lena suggested. "Detective Sawyer?"

"Sure thing Luthor," Maggie replied with a head nod. "We know that the new gang moved in when there was a void in the underworld due to the break-up of the Dushku family. Things were ripe for the picking at that point. Normally gangs are territorial, and there is a good amount of in fighting. The biggest concern the NCPD has there is collateral damage. Civilians get in the way. Sometimes gangs will make an uneasy alliance, but it never lasts. These fuckers live and die by territory, and they don't like to share."

Maggie paused, making sure everyone seemed to have a good understanding of SOP, Standard Operating Procedure, for gangs. Though she wasn't usually on the gang task force, these new weapons had pulled her into it as part of the Science Division. She'd had a decent understanding of the workings before, but now she was getting down to the names, aliases, hangouts, and next of kin kind of detail.

"So this new gang, what we've dubbed The Ultra Gang, is breaking all the rules. They took over the Dushku territory, which is the waterfront. Their tech is unlike anything the other gangs have had though. They seem to be using it to set themselves up as some kind of overlords of the underworld. Many of the higher ups in the families aren't happy about it, but we've had quite a few of them fall off our radar, and some lieutenants take up the reigns."

"Excuse me," Lena said, holding up a finger. "I have a clarifying question, Detective."

"Shoot, Luthor," Maggie replied.

"I feel that there's an implication there, and I want to make sure that I'm inferring this properly. Are you saying that the heads of other gang families are being killed if they won't join up, and their subordinates are taking command?"

Maggie nodded. "That's what it looks like."

As Lena's face darkened and she grew quiet, James asked, "Are you okay Lena?"

"I…I just need a moment to process the implications here. What we're saying is that my mother is ordering people to be killed, that she's a killer," Lena replied, biting at her thumb.

"Hey, she ordered us to be killed. You're mom's a killer," Alex reminded Lena.

"Well yes, but she sent Kara to stop it. I mean, she wasn't expecting anyone to die, right?" Lena asked looking around the room for support. Not finding any, she looked to Kara, "She wasn't actually going to kill anyone, was she?"

"I…" Kara hesitated, not wanting to do anything to upset Lena, and weighing that against the truth and potential harm from lying. Finally, she settled on saying, "I'm sorry, but I think we have to take her threats seriously. Maggie came very close to dying. I actually caught the bullet in my hand, and it was so close to her that I knocked into her. If Alex hadn't been able to tell me where Maggie was, she'd be dead. I nearly killed Maggie when…" Eyes closed, Kara's voice trailed off.

"Hey, don't sweat it, Little Danvers, I'm fine."

"You're in a wheelchair," Kara pointed out.

"Phew," Maggie waved a hand dismissively. "That's just for fun. Your sister and I were playing doctor, and then we had to go. Want to hear about it? I have vulgar hand gestures and everything," Maggie offered, wiggling her hands oddly in front of herself.

Despite the situation, Kara laughed slightly and relaxed a bit. A heavy silence grew over the room for several moments.

Finally, Maggie broke the quiet and said, "Sorry, Luthor, but unless we learn otherwise, we need to assume that your mother is behind the change in leadership and that it isn't happening willingly. You good?"

"No," Lena admitted, staring intently at her hands in her lap. "This is my mother. I know she's flawed, emotionally fettered, but…she's my mother."

"She released the Medusa virus and tried to kill all alien life," Alex reminded Lena.

"I know but…" Lena shook her head, trying to accept the new image of her mother that was trying to form in her mind.

"But it's different when it's humans?" Alex offered.

"Alex, don't," Kara said sharply. "Lena saved every alien, stopped her mother, and put her in jail. Lena values aliens. She sees us as people. We're just telling her that her mother has killed people as opposed to trying to kill people. This is hard. Give her a moment." Hand over Lena's, Kara made tiny circles with her thumb over the back of the other woman's hand. With a soft voice, she asked, "What do you need?"

Lena laughed, but it was small and nervous, not filled with humor. "A time machine. I can't help but think I made a tremendous mistake somewhere if this is my life."

Kara smiled slightly. "I might know some folks."

Looking up from her own hands, the scientist inside Lena asked, "Have you been holding out on me?"

Kara's smile grew. "Maybe you'll have to earn it."

"Well then…" A little smile was growing on Lena's lips, but it quickly disappeared as she remembered their audience. She looked over at Maggie again and said, "Thank you for the information, Detective. This will take me some time to process. I realize you all have had a very different experience with her, but for all of her faults, she's still my mother. She's the only one I have."

Alex cleared her throat quietly, a sound that drew only Kara's attention. When the blonde looked, Alex nodded once with raised brow. It only garnered her a glower in return.

"Hey, you feel what you feel, Luthor. This must be hard for you. Is it cool if I continue?" Maggie asked.

"Please do," Lena replied. "I'll try not to interrupt again."

"You do you," Maggie replied. "So obviously there had been some plans in place for something like this for a while. This looks like a crime of opportunity, but it's too well organized. Also, knowing Lillian Luthor, she doesn't do impromptu. She may be a criminal, but she's a criminal mastermind. Uh, no offense Luthor."

Lena just rolled her hand in front of her, her face unreadable.

"What we don't know is if Lillian had been planning on taking over the waterfront all along, and the little incident at the club played into her plans and maybe moved up her schedule, or if she orchestrated this all somehow," Maggie said.

"My mother, the criminal conductor," Lena murmured.

"Uh…" Kara raised her hand shyly, just above head level.

"What's up Little Danvers? You gotta go take a leak?" Maggie asked with a grin.

"Heh. No, good one, but no." Kara rubbed her palms along her pants. "Actually, the information I got on Kastrati being part of the Dushku gang, on his hangouts and known associates, that all came from Lillian. She sort of, you know, pointed me in the right direction."

"What!?" Alex pushed away from the wall, tension riding along her body. "Kara, that was weeks ago. Did you actually see Lillian?"

Averting her gaze from her sister's eyes, Kara nodded.

"Jesus…!" Taking a deep breath to keep the cool she had promised she'd keep, Alex exhaled slowly and asked, "When did this happen, Kara?"

"Um, while you were in Acapulco."

"Ugh." Alex walked over to her sister, glaring down at Kara. Then she looked over at Lena. "Did you know about this?"

Before Lena could do more than open her mouth, Maggie said, "Alex." When Alex turned to look over her shoulder, Maggie said, "Luthor was in a coma when we got back. We knew what was going on before she did, remember?"

"Oh, right." Nodding, Alex looked down at Lena and said, "Sorry, I just—"

"I knew," Lena said interrupting Alex and ignoring the out Maggie had unintentionally offered to her. "I didn't know at the time because I was in a coma as the detective said, but Kara told me after the fact."

"You…I…pfph…" The last noise Alex made wasn't even a word.

"Are you having a stroke?" Kara asked her sister with a degree of seriousness.

"Possibly!" Alex replied, going over to the bed and flopping onto it. "What the hell is wrong with the two of you? You are…Lillian Luthor? Seriously Kara? And you…you…how could you just let her and not…ugh."

"She's using her inside voice. This is good," Kara whispered to Lena while the other woman nodded in reply.

"Did you encourage this?" Alex asked Lena.

"Alex, she didn't," Kara replied instead. "She sort of read me the riot act. It's not like you do. It's a polite riot act, but I got it. Lena told me that if Lillian did something it wasn't to help her, it was to help Lillian. She told me to never go near her again."

Brows furrowed, Alex asked, "You did?"

Cocking an eyebrow, Lena replied, "You've only met my mother, Agent Danvers. I was raised by her. I was four when I was placed with her, so I know firsthand the damage she can do to a person. Kara isn't suited to deal with my mother."

"And you are?" Alex asked.

"I'm a Luthor?" Lena replied simply before adding. "Luthors don't bleed when you cut us, and we can smell blood in the water, figuratively speaking off course. We don't show weakness, and we know how to strike for the jugular. They may not be the most admirable traits, but I wouldn't have survived to adulthood without them. If anyone is suited to deal with my mother, it's me."

"Hey, I'm Supergirl. I literally don't bleed when you cut me. I also happen to have the best sense of smell in the room. I can deal with Lillian Luthor," Kara argued.

"That's adorable. You're adorable, darling," Lena said, patting Kara's hand. "Agent Danvers, we'll need to do everything we can to get my mother's hooks out of Kara as quickly as possible. This is a dangerous situation for Kara."

"Hey! I'm right here," Kara said looking back and forth between Lena and her sister.

"Ms. Luthor, and I certainly didn't think I'd be saying this when I walked into this room tonight, I agree with you. Any ideas on next steps?" Alex asked.

Jumping to her feet, Kara said, "I'm right here. Can you not see me? Seriously, is invisibility my new superpower? Am I just going to be a suit flying around town? Because I am not flying around naked. This power ends, and suddenly Barry is suing me for copyright infringement on his superhero name. Can no one see me?"

"Hey Kara," Winn said, waving.

"Winn, thank you, Winn. James, can you see me too?"

"Yeah, I can see you," James replied, a pensive look coming to his face.

"Is it just guys?" Kara looked at her sister and Lena who had somehow forgotten their animosity and were bonding over their mutual agreement that Kara would make a nice chew toy for Lillian. "Maggie, can you see me? Maggie? Maggie!?" Hands on the arms of Maggie's wheelchair, Kara was leaning down with her voice rising while the cop looked to the side, trying not to smile.

Suddenly the door opened, Kalia looking in. She stared at Kara, eyes narrowing. "Really? You this time?"

"Huh?" Kara looked down at Maggie, realizing that her position looked very similar to the one her sister had been in with Lena when Kalia had intervened. She quickly stepped back, waving her hands in front of herself. "No. They were teasing me and…No. Maggie, tell her I wasn't doing anything."

Grinning, Maggie said, "It's cool. We were teasing the kid. No one was actually upset."

Pointing at Kara, Kalia said, "Go pop a squat. Are you good, Ms. Luthor?"

"We're doing fine, thank you Kalia. Everyone's being quite civil tonight, thank you."

Kalia nodded, closing the door and leaving the group to their discussion.

Squeezing Kara's wrist, Lena said, "Kara, if you're backing down to Kalia, you can't deal with my mother."

"I was being polite," Kara mumbled.

"Hey Kara," James began. "When you first brought your idea for a story on the Dushku family to me, you showed me some information you'd received on them. You know what I mean?"

"Sure." Kara nodded, sitting up a bit straighter in her chair. "My source was all anonymous, so I couldn't use any of it, but I was able to verify some of the information with the police. I spoke to you about that, Maggie. You put me in touch with the gang division down there."

Maggie nodded.

"Yeah, yeah," James was nodding along too. "I was just wondering, I mean, I never asked about your anonymous source, because it was anonymous. A reporter has to protect their sources. You had some good information, and you were able to verify most of it once you started working the article. It was a great story, but not one I would have let such an inexperienced reporter do unless…"

"Unless they were invulnerable?" Kara said with a grin.

"Yeah," James admitted. "It could be relevant though. Who was your anonymous source?"

"Uh, anonymous," Kara replied.

"No, I know. I'm not trying to get you to reveal your sources, Kara. Nothing on the record, right Maggie?"

"Right," Maggie agreed.

"Not for me either," James said. "It's just, whoever your source was might—"

"No, James, my source was anonymous. I don't even know who it was," Kara clarified. "I got an envelope in the mail with no return address. It was filled with documents and photos, tons of information and a typed letter, several pages, outlining exactly who the Dushku family was and what I was expected to do with the information."

"Soith!"

"Lena!" Kara turned on the other woman. "Just because you say a bad word in another language doesn't make it okay. I'm going to look it up later."

"You don't need to. She just said Lillian Luthor, right?" Alex asked.

Lena shrugged. "Close enough."

"What are you talking about?" Kara asked.

"My mother, my mother sent you that envelope, Kara. She's the one who wanted you writing that article to expose the Dushku gang. She's been using you for months."

"But…" Kara shook her head, trying to sort it all out. "Why? I don't get it. Why me?"

The room grew silent, and then Lena said, "Because she knew who you were this whole time."

"What?" Alex asked, approaching Lena again, though not threateningly. "Are you sure?"

"With my mother, nothing is ever a certainty, but it makes sense. An article like this, very few reporters would take on something of this caliber. Kara literally had nothing to fear from this gang. She's invulnerable, and they were far more likely to go after her than after you, Agent Danvers. Killing an FBI agent would have far-reaching ramifications. I do have a question for Detective Sawyer."

"You can call me Maggie."

Lena pursed her lips, her brow furrowing for a moment while she considered something, then asked, "Detective, is this Dushku gang known for public executions?"

"Okay, maybe you can't call me Maggie," Maggie said with a grin. "Um, yeah, that's sort of part of their M.O. They'd take people out in a very public way, then send their hitman back to Europe if they couldn't just take care of the witnesses."

"What are you thinking?" Alex asked Lena.

"I'm thinking my mother was setting up Kara. She wanted her attacked publically, shot, her identity revealed when she wasn't injured. Kara's next move would have been…" Lena paused, eyes unfocused for a few moments before she looked over at Kara. "You would have had to leave, go somewhere else and create a new identity for yourself. Your friends here would have been in danger, your family, so they would have needed to move also. I imagine the Dushku gang would have become a top priority for your department if they cost this city Supergirl, is that right, Detective?"

"Uh, yeah," Maggie said nodding, her hand rubbing across the back of her neck. "That would have been a fucking mess but yeah."

"So Supergirl leaves, and the gang on the waterfront gets cleared out, all in one move?" Alex asked.

Hands held palm up in front of her, Lena shrugged. "It seems a reasonable assumption, but we are making a number of assumptions here. Mharú dhá éan le ceann amháin cloch."

"What the hell does that mean?" Alex asked.

"Hmmm? Oh, kill two birds with one stone," Lena explained. "My mother is many things, and one of them is efficient."

"Kara, do you have the envelope that was mailed to you, the one with the information on the gang?" Winn asked.

"Yeah, uh, yes, yes I do," Kara replied, a little bit stunned. "It's in my desk at CatCo. Why?"

"Get it to me. I can get information from the postmark to find out where it was mailed from. It was a big envelope?" Winn asked.

Kara nodded, holding her hands maybe a foot apart.

"Good," Winn said. "That probably was mailed from a post office not just a mailbox. They have security cameras. I'll find out who mailed it."

"It won't be my mother," Lena assured Winn.

"Okay, but we'll get an image, and we can work back from there. We'll get something," Winn said. "You get me the envelope, Kara?"

"Of course. I just…I can't believe…"

"Kara, you know this isn't your fault, right?" Alex said. "You got a lead, and you followed up on it like any reporter would. James even approved it, right James?"

"It was solid. I totally approved it. We didn't go to print until all the sources were there, but what showed up, the information she had, none of it made me suspicious," James agreed.

"You did your job, same as any reporter would have. This is all…"

"My mother's fault," Lena said, helping Alex out with the unfinished sentence. "Don't worry, Agent Danvers. As I said; she raised me. When it comes to schemes and treachery, I do know that side of her quite well."

"Yeah so…" Alex held out a hand to Lena. "Thanks."

"For knowing my mother's schemes and treachery?" Lena asked. "I can honestly say no one has ever thanked me for that before."

"No, for Kara. I don't think I really appreciated what you did for her before. Having a little sister who's bulletproof, someone taking a bullet for her just doesn't resonate the same way. I mean I saw how it sucked for you and that you were trying to do a good thing, but I didn't realize what you actually had done. You didn't save Supergirl's life, but you did save Kara Danvers' so thank you…Lena."

"You're welcome…Alex," Lena replied, shaking Alex's hand.

"Awww, you guys should hug," Winn said. "This feels like a hugging moment. Doesn't this feel like a hugging moment?"

"Man, chill," James said.

"I'm not really a hugger," Lena said, just in case Alex was tempted.

"Yes you are," Kara said. "You hug me all the time."

"That's…situationally different," Lena replied.

"What does that even mean?" Kara asked. As something buzzed in her pocket, the blonde leaped up, pulling out the pager and gasping. "It's Lillian. What do I do?"

"Ignore it," Alex replied. "She can go to hell."

"She likely will, but you can't ignore it, Kara. We need more information. You need to respond. You need to respond in private," Lena urged.

Kara nodded, heading toward the door and grabbing her purse on the way.

"You're listening to her on this?" Alex asked.

"She's a Luthor," Kara replied with a shrug and an oddly bright smile given the situation.

"What the hell!? I get bitched at every time I say that. Why can she say it?" Alex complained.

"Because you say it negatively. Kara's using it as a compliment, right Luthor?"

"Correct, Detective," Lena replied.

Kara made her way down the hallway and upstairs. She let her hair down and dropped her glasses into her purse. Rubbing at her face, tugging at her ear, she generally tried to remove some of the tension from the ball of stress she was. It didn't matter. She was going to have to deal with freakin' Lillian Luther. If stress was part of a survival instinct, her body was working overtime to try and help her survive right now.

In the stairwell, she began the call but continued to walk up as she went. When the call was answered she said, "Hold on. I'm making my way to the roof, so I know I have privacy." There was just silence on the other end. Once on the roof, Kara said, "Okay. I'm on the roof, and no one is around. What do you want this time?"

"I'm do well, thank you and yourself?" Lillian's voice came back from the other end of the phone.

Kara tensed even more which she didn't think was possible. She rubbed at her face with one hand again, letting out a long breath then replied, "I'm doing quite well. Thank you for asking."

"Better. Civil," Lillian replied, her voice all haughtiness and condescending smiles. "Perhaps you can be taught. We just needed a short enough leash and one of those shock collars, and it seems we've provided that now."

Kara opened her mouth, anger that ran through her, anger that went back to watching her whole world being destroyed threatening to boil over, but she stopped and just breathed letting it settle once again. After a few moments, Kara managed to ask in a voice that was fairly close to her own, "So what was it that you needed, Lillian?"

"How are you doing? I mean seriously, after all that's gone on, how are you doing? I need to make sure you're keeping yourself in check," Lillian asked with what sounded like, if not concern, at least curiosity.

"Honestly, I've been better. Two of my best friends are hospitalized, and three others are looking to me as to why they almost died. I'm being blackmailed by someone who wants my entire species, what little is left of it, dead, and I've already seen my entire world destroyed. All I want to do is help humans, help this world, and to have a human want me dead simply because I exist is…" Kara took another breath to steady herself. "I feel heartsick over this, desolate. Does that answer your question?"

"Stiff upper lip, Kara. Don't embarrass yourself with an emotional outburst. It's unseemly. What are you telling those people, those friends of yours, when they asked about that unpleasant business the other day?"

"You mean when you sent people to kill them?"

Lillian tutted over the phone. "Dramatic doesn't suit you, Kara. You got to play the hero, and we all know how much you like that. You play dress up and pose for the camera. Is that the problem? Were things not public enough for you…this time?"

Kara swallowed hard, pausing for several moments before she finally replied, "I had to tell them that I was sent by you. I showed them the bracer. I couldn't just say I was there for no reason, so they needed to know something. I told them I got a lead and tracked you down, but that you were ready for me."

"And the pager?"

"No one knows," Kara said quickly.

"Keep it that way," Lillian replied just as quickly. "How's my daughter?"

"As if you care."

"Don't pretend to tell me how I feel. Lena is my daughter. Her well-being will always be a concern of mine."

Kara's voice deepened, almost a snarl, "When I found her there was a needle in her neck. She was laying there, afraid to move, afraid to do anything because she thought someone was trying to kill her. You did that, Lillian. You made your daughter think someone was trying to kill her. You call that caring? You're sick. As awful as everything else that you've done, that was just sick and twisted."

"Please," Lillian said dismissively. "Lena is a Luthor. She knows how business is done, and she knows how to do business. She wouldn't let something as minor as this upset her. Lena will have just filed this away into one of life's little lessons. After all, that which doesn't kill us makes us stronger. I made my daughter stronger. Even if she doesn't realize it today, she'll eventually be grateful."

There were several seconds of silence while the tendons and veins in Kara's neck stood out, her jaw moved back and forth, but she didn't speak.

Lillian continued, "Now, when I asked how Lena was, I was asking about her physical health. I saw the latest update on her records. She walked?"

Mouth closed, Kara took several breaths through her nose before simply saying, "Yes…a little."

"Of course she did. I told you she'd be fine. She's a Luthor. We're indomitable."

"Lillian, enough small talk. Why did you call?" Kara asked, clearly at the end of her patience.

"I can't just chat with my favorite alien?"

"I'm your favorite alien?" Kara asked skeptically.

"Well, the bar is set rather low," Lillian admitted. "All right Kara, I need you to do something for me for the next forty-eight hours."

"I already told you that I'm not working with you."

"And I already told you that what you'll be doing is staying out of my business. That's the deal. You stay away from my dealings and those you love stay healthy. That seems a more than fair trade, now doesn't it?"

"What do you want, Lillian?" Kara asked slowly and with a touch more volume than was strictly necessary for a phone call.

"What I want is for you to not work with the police for the next forty-eight hours. You'll do that for me now won't you dear?"

"No," Kara answered immediately. "If someone needs my help, I'm giving it. I'm not ignoring sirens, letting crime run rampant, just because you get your jollies over it for some reason. I don't know what this little power play is, but I'm not playing."

With a deep sigh, Lillian said, "I'm not asking you to ignore petty crimes or incidents. If you hear a siren, feel free to fly after it or whatever it is that you do. I honestly could not care less. What I'm **telling** you to do is not work with the police. If they ask you to help them on a case, you decline. That means no consulting, no reconnaissance, no questioning of suspects, no stake-outs, no…whatever else it is one does when working with law enforcement officials. Understand?"

"Why?"

"Why are you doing this? You're doing this because I told you to do so, and you want to keep in my good graces."

Kara opened her mouth to reply, then snorted. "Sorry." She cleared her throat. "I mean, why are you asking me to do this?"

"Kara, this isn't a movie. Even when I had you caged and powerless, I didn't unfurl my plot to you. I'm certainly not doing it now. Just tell me that you understand what I've told you to do, that you'll follow my orders, and then go back to taking care of my daughter. Now, do you understand?" Lillian asked.

"Well, I do but—"

"So you'll be steering clear of the police."

"Maggie's a cop. I spend a lot of time with her," Kara argued.

"Socially not professionally, correct?"

"Well…yeah."

"That's fine. Go enjoy that past time. For the next forty-eight hours, no non-social police interaction unless you are responding to an emergency. Are we clear?"

After a pause, Kara sighed and said, "Crystal."

"Excellent," Lillian said, a smile in her voice. "Have a lovely evening Kara. We'll be speaking again soon." Lillian paused, then asked, "Well?"

With an eye roll, Kara said, "Have a good night, Lillian. I'll talk to you soon."

"Good girl. Your training is coming along admirably."

When the line disconnected, Kara looked at her phone and yelled, "I hate you!"

She took a moment to calm her breathing before dropping the phone back into her purse and grabbing her glasses out as she headed back down the stairs. Her glasses were on her face and her hair tied back before she was in the hallway again. When she got into Lena's room, there was already lots of chatter going around the room.

"How did I do?" Kara asked.

"Beautifully," Lena replied.

Hand held palm up in front of her, Kara revealed an earpiece as she said, "Well you helped keep me on track, though less snark next time. I nearly laughed at your mother at one point."

"What snark?" Lena asked, lifting one eyebrow. "I'm never snarky."

"Oh, Luthor." Maggie shook her head. "When it comes to your mom, I'm totally on your side, but you were damn snarky. Like, if there were a snark match between you and your mom, I'd totally buy ringside seats for that."

"I'm pretty sure that match would sell out," James agreed.

"So what do you think she's up to?" Alex asked, looking at Lena.

"That might be a better question for the detective," Lena replied. "Right now all we know is that Cadmus is going to target something that involves the police, something that my mother thinks might even garner the watchful eye of Supergirl. Any ideas?"

Maggie gave a one-shouldered shrug. "There's so much. We're covering an entire city. Do you think it has to do with the ultra gang?"

"Unlikely," Lena replied. "That would seem too direct. No, this won't even seem to be related to Cadmus activities at first. The reason she's trying to keep Supergirl separate is that she doesn't want a Cadmus agent captured during whatever is about to happen. My mother doesn't want this linked to Cadmus."

"Because?" Alex asked. "I mean, outside of the obvious reason, why is she trying to avoid linking this to Cadmus?"

"Because she's playing the long game, Agent Danvers. Whatever she's doing, she needs time to work on her plan, perhaps work out the kinks," Lena explained.

"So we have no idea what she's planning, no idea how she's going to execute, and all we know is she's going to do something to screw over the NCPD in the next forty-eight hours. Does that sound about right?" Alex said with an exaggerated sigh.

"Well, we know a bit since we know the woman herself," Lena said, biting at the pad of her thumb and then turning her attention to the bed. "Mr. Schott, if you suddenly found yourself morally ambiguous and needing to do something illegal, what would be your modus operandi?"

Winn jumped a little bit, obviously surprised to be addressed, then smiled crookedly as he hunched up his shoulders and replied, "Um…I'd hack someone I guess?"

"Correct Mr. Schott," Lena said rewarding Winn with a smile that made his smile grow. "And you Mr. Olsen, what would you do?"

"Oh, um, well…" James gave that a moment or two of thought. "Well, given my current resources, if I wanted to hurt someone and had no moral compunctions, I think I'd manage some compromising photos and then publish a few articles about them. Those are my tools."

Still smiling, Lena cocked an eyebrow at Maggie, and the cop grinned, deep dimples that didn't match the statement of, "I'd frame them and arrest them."

When Lena looked at Alex, the agent was already staring at her, arms crossed as she said, "They'd never see me coming, and no one would ever find the body." Alex leaned a touch further forward, her eyes narrowing slightly as she repeated, "No one."

Eyebrows rising for a moment, the hint taken, Lena looked over at Kara.

Kara shook her head, an expression halfway between a frown and a pout on her face as she said, "I don't like this game. I'm not playing."

With a kind smile, Lena reached over, twining her fingers into Kara's. Kara put her other hand over Lena's and squeezed. Then the blonde settled her head onto the other woman's shoulder, sighing happily at the comfort. Everyone else in the room took notice. James gave a little eye roll. Winn smiled slightly. Maggie's face also held a hint of a smile, but hers was more knowing and less casual. Alex just looked annoyed.

Pointing to herself with her hand that was not part of a Danvers digit sandwich, Lena said, "Were I up to no good, I would doubtless use my resources to build a contraption or three that would disable my foe." Letting her gaze wander across the room, Lena smirked and added, "That or I'd just sic my lawyers on them."

Tensing, Alex took a step forward. "Really?"

"That was a joke, right Lena?" Kara asked lifting her head, but it was more said looking for assurance.

"Of course," Lena replied, seemingly casual as her free hand stroked the air in front of her.

"It was a sucky joke," Alex grumbled.

"What's the matter, Alexandra, too soon?" Lena quipped, one eyebrow raised.

"Enough, both of you," Kara snapped. "No fighting among ourselves. Lena, if you have a point, make it already."

"I apologize," Lena said with a nod. "My point is that my mother is a doctor. Whatever she does, it will be based in medical science. On that, we can be assured."

"So she's going to experiment on someone," Alex stated. "Mags?"

"I don't know that it helps me, but I can talk to a few guys. I can—"

"People can't know," Kara cut in.

"She's right," Lena agreed. "You already had one person on my mother's payroll infiltrate the NCPD, Detective. If word gets out that you're aware that she is targeting someone to do with the police, it could get back to her, and she'll know that Kara isn't remaining quiet. Then—"

"I hear you. I hear you," Maggie said with a nod. "We can't do nothing, though."

"Well, and here's an idea, maybe I could look at active cases the NCPD has in their system and run an algorithm to see the likelihood that any of those would be hit by Cadmus," Winn suggested.

"You want access to NCPD system?" Maggie asked.

Winn smiled brightly, shaking his head. "Access, pheh, nah. I mean, I'll just run the algorithm against the system data using a back door to gain entrance to the NCPD system, and why are you looking at me like that Mags?"

"You're planning to hack the NCPD system?" Maggie asked.

"Planning, like future tense?" Winn clarified, still smiling and with a little laugh.

"Man, shut up," James suggested.

"Right, shutting up with less talking. I can do that," Winn said, nodding eagerly.

"Mr. Schott, if you require any assistance, I do have some experience in electronic surveillance where high degrees of subterfuge is required," Lena offered.

Alex cleared her throat, looking at her sister but tilting her head toward Lena.

"Winn will let you know, but he's pretty good. He's like professionally sneaky," Kara said quietly to Lena.

"Not based on some of the hacking attempts I've seen at L-Corp," Lena mumbled back.

"Hey," Kara hopped to her feet, taking her hands back. "Are we all set, or is there anything else? Does everyone know what they're doing?" When there was nodding all around, she said, "Great teamwork, folks. Check in again tomorrow?"

"Maggie may be heading home in the morning," Alex said as she pushed Alex's wheelchair toward the door, Winn, and James already having exited. "Kara, will you walk us out?"

"Well, I…Lena?"

"I'm fine. Go and spend some time with your sister."

"I'll be right back, and I'll send Kalia in," Kara assured the other woman. She followed after her sister and Maggie, though Alex was stopped by the nurse and rearming herself. They made it to the elevator, down to the fourth floor, then all the way to Maggie's room before Alex sighed and Kara said, "Is this about Lena?"

"Yes, Kara, but—"

"Don't start, Alex. We just made peace. Don't start."

"Kara, it's not what you think," Alex told her sister. "When you were…making your call, I was watching Lena."

"Really?" Kara tensed.

"Just listen to me before you get pissed. Lena keeps her walls up pretty tightly, but her mother gets through. When her mother said that Lena would be grateful to her for that stunt with the needle, Lena reacted. She didn't say anything, but she was gripping the wheelchair so tightly that if she had been you, she would have torn it apart like tissue paper. I could see little twitches in her face, like cracks in that wall she keeps up, the whole time her mother spoke. Just the sound of Lillian's voice was tearing Lena down. I don't know her well but—"

"Do you want to know if she's traumatized, if Lillian mentally abused Lena from the moment that woman took a four-year-old child under her custody? I'd say that's a rhetorical question, Alex. Look, I know you see walls and coldness when you see Lena, but she isn't like that. She's just trying to protect herself because she grew up needing to. When other people aren't around, she's sweet and funny. She relaxes, and we're just Lena and Kara. Honestly, there's no one that makes me feel safer, that I trust more than her."

"No one?" Alex asked.

"No one," Kara replied.

"No one?" Alex repeated a bit louder as she leaned forward.

"That's what I said."

"Are you hearing this?" Alex asked Maggie, looking down.

"Uh, yeah. You two are having a discussion over my head, literally over my head. Right now I'm even shorter than usual," Maggie said as she looked up from the chair. "Look, Little Danvers, you trust her?"

"Completely."

"Even with the way her family is, the way she was raised, you trust her," Maggie clarified.

"More so," Kara said, nodding quickly. "You see what Lillian's like. She honestly thinks that Lena should be grateful for whatever kind of lesson a fake murder attempt is. Alex, can you imagine Eliza ever doing something like that to either of us?"

"God no. She wouldn't even let us watch R-rated movies when we were living at home."

"Right. She probably still wouldn't like it because of the bad language," Kara agreed.

"And the violence," Alex added. "You're Supergirl, and I'm a DEO Agent, and our mom doesn't want us watching a movie with car chases and gun shootouts."

Kara smiled. "We live that stuff."

"But she's a mom."

"Right," Kara agreed. "But Lena never had a mom. She had Lillian. Well, she had one until she was four, and maybe that made a big difference. I know she wishes she had one still. It hurt her to turn Lillian over to the police because for a brief period Lillian looked at her with pride for coming to Cadmus. Lena hasn't said it outright, but there was part of Lena that liked that acceptance as awful as it was to be accepted for genocide. For those brief moments she thought maybe she'd earned her mother's love, and all she had to do was kill a few thousand people to do it."

"Jesus Christ," Maggie mumbled.

"Lena knows better though. Her mother doesn't just love. Lillian doesn't love Lena just…because. Lillian loves what Lena can do for Lillian. With Lillian, it's all give and take. It was like that even for Lex. He continually had to earn his mother's acceptance, and Kal was a threat to that. Lex would never be the best. It drove him mad."

"You don't think Lena would be tempted to do something extreme to gain Lillian's acceptance?" Alex asked.

"Alex, she's seen what happened to Lex. She already lost her brother, the one person she felt loved her when she was a child, in this drive for perfection and acceptance. I think it frightens her. She's trying to distance herself from it like it's a drug. I'm not saying she doesn't have the habit, but she knows what an unhealthy addiction it is and she's doing everything she can to stay away from it. What she needs is a different kind of love and acceptance, the kind we all have in our lives. I can give that to her. How about you?"

Grimly, Alex gave a single nod. "Take care of her Kara. She puts up a good front, but growing up with Lillian did something to her, and she's hurting. I don't know if she talks about it, but when she does, I don't think she'll have anything good to say."

"Thanks, Alex," Kara said with a smile as she walked around Maggie and enveloped her sister in a hug. "You have no idea what it means to have you on her side."

After being freed from the super embrace, Alex smiled back and said, "I'll still be watching her, but if Lillian Luthor is on one side, it seems like Lena Luthor is on another. It also looks like wherever Lena Luthor is I can find my little sister, and I'm always on your side."

Kara's smile grew as she nodded eagerly. "Speaking of which, I've got to get back to her. She promised we could watch a movie tonight, and if I don't get back, she'll just get sucked into work. All she does is work if someone isn't there to remind her life is more than that."

"And that's your job," Maggie said.

Kara laughed. "I wish it paid better. I've got to run…literally. I'll take the stairs. Later guys. Love you both." She gave her sister and Maggie both a hug, then was on her way.

When she was sure Kara was gone, Maggie shook her head and said, "They'll be doing it by Christmas."

"What? Who?" Alex asked.

"Are you kidding me?" Maggie got up from the wheelchair, carefully making her way to bed and happy that she felt steady. "Your sister and Lena. I'm not sure exactly what is going on with them right now given where they are and Lena's condition, but that's the only thing stopping them. They'll be doing it by Christmas."

"I…" Alex shook her head. "Lena rejected Kara. They're just friends."

Head tilted to the side, Maggie's dimples showed as her smile grew. "Wanna make a bet?"


	31. 31-Semantics

Lena sat in her wheelchair, typing, searching through the NCPD database. Last night's discussion with her mother had left her mind racing, and she was upset that she had so little stamina at this point. Normally she could work long into the night, maybe until dawn, fueled by excitement, need, and caffeine. At this time it was a struggle to stay up after sunset, and Kalia was like a God damn warden. The more energy she spent arguing with the woman about medication doses and Lillian the less she had actually to try and figure out Lillian's scheme.

Though she hated to do it, she'd pulled Jess into this to help. She trusted her assistant like few others in her life, but that left L-Corp undermanned again. The rules were strict, no more than four hours a day on this project. However, Lena knew that Jess would translate that into eight hours a day which is why Lena hadn't said eight hours a day. Though well paid, Jess was still underpaid for all that she did. Lena was starting to feel like money wasn't the answer. Maybe she needed to get a kidney donor lined up just in case. They also did partial liver donations. How was the cloning research coming along to grow people new organs? Right, after this latest disaster was averted, move Jess to the top of the trials just in case.

As she flipped from case file to case file, nothing stood out. She was missing something, but she didn't know what. Lena's mind went back to the previous evening when they'd all discussed her mother and her mother's motivations, how they'd rally against her.

 _As if like clockwork, that damn pager had gone off, and Kara had pulled it from her purse, staring at it with alarm. Though they had a plan, the blonde had licked her lips and stared with panic._

 _"_ _It's Lillian. What do I do?"_

 _"_ _Ignore it," Alex replied. "She can go to hell."_

 _"_ _She likely will, but you can't ignore it, Kara. We need more information. You need to respond. You need to respond in private," Lena urged._

 _She'd watched Kara nod and head toward the door, convinced by Lena's words over Kara's sisters. It took all of Lena's 'Luthor Training' to not let even the tiniest bit of satisfaction show at that. She and the older Danvers sister were trying to get on now. It wouldn't do well to unsettle that no matter Lena's personal feelings. Matters with Alexandra Danvers weren't personal. They were a negation. Kara, Kara was personal._

 _"_ _You're listening to her on this?" Alex's voice was sharp like her eyes._

 _"_ _She's a Luthor," Kara just shrugged and smiled as she answered as if that explained everything but in the best way. Somehow Kara made being a Luthor the best thing possible…only Kara._

 _"_ _What the hell!? I get bitched at every time I say that. Why can she say it?" The ire rolled off Alex unhidden._

 _Surprisingly, at least to Lena, it was the little detective who spoke up and said, "Because you say it negatively. Kara's using it as a compliment, right Luthor?"_

 _Again, Lena found herself having to suppress a smile. She could agree with this woman, see where this might lead, without pushing the wedge between her and Kara's sister further into place. "Correct, Detective." She wondered, however briefly, why she'd twice now been reminded she was a Luthor and not felt like either time it was being used as a weapon? She locked away that information for examination at a later time._

 _As Kara left the room, Lena pushed her chair over to her side table. She had to maneuver around the detective's wheelchair, but it was a simple enough task. She was getting better at moving around in this thing. It could have been a lifetime of need for her as it was for so many, and she was feeling grateful that it wouldn't be. Pulling open the drawer, her hand hovered briefly over her phone as she made note to increase the research into certain medical products for L-Corp and do some research to see where she should be making a generous personal donation for people who weren't as lucky as she was. As she grabbed her phone, dialing and making the connection, she had to work to keep her face neutral. She and Alexandra Danvers would have a long path to travel to reach neutrality._

 _"_ _My little sister has to deal with your psycho of a mother, and you've got to make a phone call? That better not be business. At least tell me you're ordering her potstickers and pizza," Alex drawled._

 _Lifting just an eyebrow as she kept her back mostly to Alex, Lena said into the phone, "Kara we're connected."_

 _"_ _Got it," Kara replied over the phone line. "I'll make the call." There were a few seconds of silence, then the beeping tone of a phone being dialed._

 _"_ _Kara, darling, what a surprise to hear from you," came Lillian Luthor's voice from across the line._

 _Putting the phone on speaker Lena rested it in her lap just as Kara's voice came through the line saying, "Hold on. I'm making my way to the roof, so I know I have privacy."_

 _Turning her chair, Lena began to make her way back to her original spot on the other side of the room. She was a bit surprised when she felt pressure on the back of her chair, and she looked over her shoulder, seeing James Olsen there gently pushing her forward. "Thank you, Mr. Olsen."_

 _He nodded, his smile as charming as always._

 _"_ _Can we…?" Alex's voice was oddly quiet as she pointed at Lena's lap. "Can they hear us?"_

 _"_ _Just Kara. She has an earpiece, and the phone will transmit to that. My mother won't be able to hear anything we say."_

 _"_ _Coolio and the Gang!" Winn said with much enthusiasm. "I want to see your tech afterward."_

 _"_ _Of course," Lena said, her smile professional._

 _Kara spoke again, and everyone was suddenly attentive of the conversation, "Okay. I'm on the roof, and no one is around. What do you want this time?"_

 _"_ _I'm doing_ _well, thank you and yourself?" Lillian's voice came back from the other end of the phone._

 _Though Kara was speaking, her voice took on an unmistakable tension that was very unlike her. "I'm doing quite well. Thank you for asking."_

 _"_ _Better. Civil," The smirk, not smile, that was classic Lillian Luthor was so obvious in the other woman's voice. "Perhaps you can be taught. We just needed a short enough leash and one of those shock collars, and it seems we've provided that now."_

 _"_ _Don't react, Kara," Lena urged. "That's what she wants. If you do, she'll feel like it's proof that she's better than you. Just let it roll off you, darling. She thinks she has the upper hand, that it's just her and her little game versus you, but it isn't. She has no idea how prepared you are. Do exactly as we said. Take a breath. Let it out, and let it go."_

 _Kara's breathing came across the line before she calmly asked, "So what was it that you needed, Lillian?"_

 _"_ _That's my girl," Lena whispered._

 _"_ _How are you doing? I mean seriously, after all that's gone on, how are you doing? I need to make sure you're keeping yourself in check." There was an odd sense of sincerity to Lillian's question, but sincerely what was anyone's guess._

 _"_ _Honestly, I've been better. Two of my best friends are hospitalized, and three others are looking to me as to why they almost died. I'm being blackmailed by someone who wants my entire species, what little is left of it, dead, and I've already seen my entire world destroyed. All I want to do is help humans, help this world, and to have a human want me dead simply because I exist is…" There was a paused and then Kara added, "I feel heartsick over this, desolate. Does that answer your question?"_

 _"_ _Stiff upper lip, Kara. Don't embarrass yourself with an emotional outburst. It's unseemly. What are you telling those people, those friends of yours, when they asked about that unpleasant business the other day?" Lillian asked._

 _"_ _You mean when you sent people to kill them?"_

 _"_ _You get her Kara!" Alex urged, punching the air with a level of enthusiasm that no one present doubted she wished was for Lillian._

 _With a clicking of her tongue, Lillian said, "Dramatic doesn't suit you, Kara. You got to play the hero, and we all know how much you like that. You play dress up and pose for the camera. Is that the problem? Were things not public enough for you…this time?"_

 _"_ _Remember the story, Kara," Lena urged._

 _"_ _What story?" Alex asked. "Why wasn't I consulted on this story?"_

 _"_ _Because yesterday we parted on…unpleasant terms. We didn't get to finish our conversation," Lena replied, almost keeping the entirety of the attitude out of her response…almost._

 _Alex took a step forward. "Yeah but—"_

 _"_ _No fighting!" Maggie snapped out. "Kara is talking to Lillian! You two keep it the fuck together bitches!" When both Lena and Alex stared at her with eyes a bit wide, Maggie nodded. "You heard me. I don't give a fuck what the plan is. Whatever it is, we're 100% in right now, and we've got Kara's back. Kara, you go forward with it. You hear me? We've got you, and you two, no bickering or I've got a bitch slap your YOU and a bitch slap for YOU!"_

 _Once Maggie was silent, Kara replied, "I had to tell them that I was sent by you. I showed them the bracer. I couldn't just say I was there for no reason, so they needed to know something. I told them I got a lead and tracked you down, but that you were ready for me."_

 _"_ _And the pager?"_

 _"_ _No one knows," Kara said quickly._

 _"_ _Keep it that way," Lillian replied just as quickly. "How's my daughter?"_

 _"_ _As if you care."_

 _"_ _Don't pretend to tell me how I feel. Lena is my daughter. Her well-being will always be a concern of mine," Lillian replied._

 _Lying bitch," someone murmured in the room._

 _Lena's couldn't stop her head from looking up, and she didn't know who looked more surprised, her or Alex who was looking back at her with soft eyes failing to hide a touch of sympathy. It was also hard to say which one of them looked away quicker._

 _With what sounded like a snarl in her voice, Kara replied, "When I found her there was a needle in her neck. She was laying there, afraid to move, afraid to do anything because she thought someone was trying to kill her. You did that, Lillian. You made your daughter think someone was trying to kill her. You call that caring? You're sick. As awful as everything else that you've done, that was just sick and twisted."_

 _"_ _Please," Lillian said dismissively. "Lena is a Luthor. She knows how business is done, and she knows how to do business. She wouldn't let something as minor as this upset her. Lena will have just filed this away into one of life's little lessons. After all, that which doesn't kill us makes us stronger. I made my daughter stronger. Even if she doesn't realize it today, she'll eventually be grateful."_

 _Hands tightening over the arms of her wheelchair until the tips of her fingers turned white, Lena stared at the phone in her lap. 'A Luthor doesn't show weakness.' 'A Luthor doesn't show weakness.' 'A Luthor doesn't show weakness.' She repeated that mantra, feeling like four sets of eyes were boring holes into her and willing her face not to break, the veneer not to crack and show what was underneath where the words swam in her mother's voice…'But you've never been a real Luthor anyway.' When would her doubts not sound like her mother? Did everyone's self-doubts sound like their parents? Did everyone's mothers' voice lead them to murder and insanity? That one was a no. That one was saved for a select few, and Luthors were among them. Swallowing, Lena did her best to smooth her features and concentrate on her mother's voice, the one in the here and now that filled the room, not the one in the past that filled her in her darkest moments._

 _"_ _Now,_ _when I asked how Lena was, I was asking about her physical health. I saw the latest update on her records. She walked?" Lillian asked._

 _It was clear Kara was still using her breathing technique to keep calm. "Yes…a little."_

 _"_ _Of course she did. I told you she'd be fine. She's a Luthor. We're indomitable."_

 _"_ _Lillian, enough small talk. Why did you call?" Kara asked, obviously done with the games._

 _"_ _I can't just chat with my favorite alien?" Lillian asked._

 _There was a snort, and when everyone turned Winn looked a bit surprised at himself._

 _"_ _I'm your favorite alien?" Kara asked, her skepticism clear._

 _"_ _Well, the bar is set rather low," Lillian admitted._

 _Winn snorted again. "Sorry," he whispered. "For a villain, she's kind of funny."_

 _"_ _Dude, not cool," James whispered back._

 _"_ _No, it's good. Lena and I are in the Children of Supervillains Club, right Lena?"_

 _Lena shrugged at Winn, not commenting._

 _"_ _All right Kara, I need you to do something for me for the next forty-eight hours," Lillian admitted, but she made it sound more like a directive._

 _"_ _I already told you that I'm not working with you."_

 _"_ _And I already told you that what you'll be doing is staying out of my business. That's the deal. You stay away from my dealings and those you love stay healthy. That seems a more than fair trade, now doesn't it?"_

 _"_ _What do you want, Lillian?" Kara's voice was slow and louder than before._

 _"_ _What I want is for you to not work with the police for the next forty-eight hours. You'll do that for me now won't you dear?"_

 _"_ _No," Immediately Kara answered. "If someone needs my help, I'm giving it. I'm not ignoring sirens, letting crime run rampant, just because you get your jollies over it for some reason. I don't know what this little power play is, but I'm not playing."_

 _A sigh came over the line, like an adult who was a patiently putting up with a child who just wasn't learning. Lena's skin crawled. She knew it well. It was regularly followed by a long addressing of all of Lena's flaws, and they were numerous. When the one time Lena suggested her mother just make Lena a list, Lillian added talking back to the list of flaws. Of course, Lena just shrunk in further acquiescing that her mother was right. God, how she hated that sigh. It always made her feel smaller even before she was verbally shredded._

 _After sighing, Lillian said, "I'm not asking you to ignore petty crimes or incidents._ _If you hear a siren, feel free to fly after it or whatever it is that you do. I honestly could not care less. What I'm_ _ **telling**_ _you to do is not work with the police. If they ask you to help them on a case, you decline. That means no consulting, no reconnaissance, no questioning of suspects, no stake-outs, no…whatever else it is one does when working with law enforcement officials. Understand?"_

 _"_ _Why?"_

 _"_ _Why are you doing this? You're doing this because I told you to do so, and you want to keep in my good graces."_

 _Snapping, Lena slapped her hand down on the arm of the wheelchair. "Good graces? That woman wouldn't know good graces if they came along and bit her on the ass. If she doesn't get on with this already, I'm just about ready to do that to her, and she can kiss mine while she's at it!"_

 _Kara snorted, then said, "Sorry." She cleared her throat. "I mean, why are you asking me to do this?"_

 _"_ _Kara, this isn't a movie. Even when I had you caged and powerless, I didn't unfurl my plot to you. I'm certainly not doing it now," Lillian replied._

 _"_ _It is utterly shocking she can control her evil monologue," Lena quipped. "My mother's favorite sound is her own voice. I made her a digital recorder for a birthday gift once, and she actually appreciated it, true story."_

 _"_ _Just tell me that you understand what I've told you to do, that you'll follow my orders, and then go back to taking care of my daughter. Now, do you understand?" Lillian asked._

 _"_ _Well, I do but—"_

 _"_ _So you'll be steering clear of the police."_

 _"_ _Maggie's a cop. I spend a lot of time with her," Kara argued._

 _"_ _Socially not professionally, correct?"_

 _"_ _Well…yeah."_

 _"_ _That's fine. Go enjoy that past time. For the next forty-eight hours, no non-social police interaction unless you are responding to an emergency. Are we clear?" Lillian asked._

 _"_ _Just agree with her Kara," Alex said, but she looked up to Lena._

 _Lena nodded._

 _"_ _We'll need to do some reconnaissance on this. Good work," Alex added._

 _Kara said to Lillian, "Crystal."_

 _"_ _Excellent." There was a smug little smile in Lillian's voice. "Have a lovely evening Kara. We'll be speaking again soon." Lillian paused, then asked, "Well?"_

 _Kara said, "Have a good night, Lillian. I'll talk to you soon."_

 _"_ _Good girl. Your training is coming along admirably."_

 _The line disconnected and Lena turned off her phone. "Well, not much more information, but we know it will happen in the next forty-eight hours, and it involves a police case. That's something for you, Detective."_

 _"_ _Yeah, I wish I wasn't out of action. Uh, don't tell Kara I said that," Maggie added. "The kid is already guilty enough. First, you're in here Luthor and now me, she's a mess."_

 _"_ _Well, you'll be fine, right, Detective?"_

 _"_ _Sure," Maggie agreed._

 _"_ _I'll be fine, so no reason for her to be guilty. Kara just needs to give this some time and realize that it was the people who set these chain of events into motion that are to blame. She's as much a victim as anyone else."_

 _"_ _You're really going to be okay?" James asked._

 _"_ _Of course," Lena assured him. "The miracles of modern science," she added, looking around the room, daring anyone to contradict her._

 _"_ _That's great," James said, his bright smile, fading a bit as the discomfort in the room became evident to him._

 _Squirming a bit, Winn suddenly said, "Hey, Lena, you know why it's too bad that you don't know where you mom is?"_

 _"_ _Because then I could have her arrested and put an end to all of this horrible charade?"_

 _"_ _Uh…" Ducking his head as he rubbed at the back of his neck, Winn nodded a bit then smiled up at her. He pointed as his smile grew. "You got me there. Valid point. I was thinking, though, that you could send her a Christmas gift. I was thinking...wait for it…hairless cat, right? Cause she like a supervillain and supervillains have hairless cats, right?"_

 _Suddenly alert, Lena sat up in her chair. "Mr. Schott, you are a—"_

 _"_ _Idiot?" Winn guessed._

 _"_ _A genius," Lena corrected him. "My God, that would almost be worth joining Cadmus."_

 _"_ _That's not funny, Lena," Alex joined in, walking next to the other two, trying to get some eye contact._

 _Waving a dismissive hand at the agent, Lena said, "It would be brilliant. My mother would hate it. I would adore it."_

 _"_ _You'd really get her a hairless cat?" Winn asked._

 _"_ _ **A**_ _hairless cat?" Lena asked, her eyes focusing on the man again. "No, I'd get her a thousand. My mother loathes pets. We never had one. She didn't even take us to the zoo. The closest I ever came to a pet were the animals in mother's labs used for scientific research. She didn't even name them, and I'm not sure if that was worse or better. They were species and numbers. I used to name them. She wasn't…entertained by that. Apparently, I have an overdeveloped sense of romanticism." She looked around the room, at everyone studying her after that comment, and shrugged. "Well, for a Luthor."_

"Morning!" Kara said brightly as she stepped into Lena's room, closing the door behind her.

Looking up in confusion from where she sat in her wheelchair, Lena took in Kara's presence, glanced at the time on her laptop, and then met Kara's gaze again. "Um…morning. What are you doing here?"

"Well, that's friendly. I'm glad to see you too," Kara replied, her smile never decreasing.

Pulling off her glasses, Lena placed them on the rolling table. She mostly closed the laptop and said, "Good Lord, that was rude, wasn't it? I apologize Kara. I just wasn't expecting you. Wait, we didn't make plans for this morning, did we? Usually, I'm excellent at keeping track of these things, but I need Jess at the office to keep everything afloat. I'd hate to think how things would look after this past month if not for her. I swear, I'm so far behind at work that—"

Cutting Lena off with a kiss before the other woman could get any more worked up, Kara smiled as the kiss ended. "Rao, and people tell me to breathe. Relax, Lena, we didn't have plans. I was in the neighborhood and thought I'd drop in and see you. Plus I wanted to do this some more." Leaning in, Kara pushed the table off to the side as she kissed Lena once again.

Winding her hands around Kara's neck, Lena played with the soft hairs there. Kara's hands were resting gently on Lena's hips, thumbs sliding up over the bones to the sensitive flesh on her stomach. They had kissed for about a minute before they came up for air, both smiling.

"Mmmm, Miss Danvers, I don't know if you're good for my blood pressure or bad for it."

Sliding away until she was only holding one of Lena's hands, Kara grinned and said, "Want me to grab Jake to take your blood pressure while we do that again?"

"What!? No!" Lena snapped, trying to pull Kara back but instead pulling herself the slightest bit forward.

"Hey, relax I was just—"

"Is he right out there?" Lena asked staring at the door.

"No, he's chatting up some nurse at the nurse's station. Jake isn't Kalia. He leaves security to your security detail. He realizes he was hired to be your nurse." Placing her hands on Lena's shoulders, Kara asked, "What's wrong? Your heart rate really picked up."

"Nothing," Lena replied, her face taking on its CEO negotiating calm again as her heart rate began to slow. "You were the one who suggested we try this…whatever it is we're doing under a veil of secrecy. Making jokes about pulling in relative strangers to see us canoodling does not build my confidence in your ability to keep this secret." When Kara just stared for several seconds, Lena asked, "What?"

"Well, first of all, you're full of bunk. Secondly, you said canoodle. Don't say that again. You're young and hot, but when you say something like that you sound like someone's grandma. I don't want to kiss a mouth that says that."

Arms crossed, Lena replied, "And you say bunk because you can't use stronger language."

"I so can."

"Oh? Like what?"

"Like…crap." Kara stuck out her tongue.

One eyebrow raised, Lena slowly smiled and said, "I sit corrected."

"Thank you for admitting it," Kara said smiling back, then her face took on a more somber cast. "Will you tell me what had you so upset before?"

"I honestly was just worried about Jake coming in and seeing us. I didn't find your joke amusing. If we're going to attempt something here, it has to be in secret until we know it's safe to do otherwise."

Nodding, Kara pulled up a chair. She stared down at her hands curled into each other. Her thumbs rubbed together, and though her gaze was on them, her mind was elsewhere. Her mind had been here, on and off, for a few days. She hadn't expected to have this conversation when she came in here this morning, but this felt like a convenient opening to the subject.

Lifting her face, Kara locked eyes with Lena and asked, "So exactly what are we doing here Lena?"

Lips pursed, Lena replied, "What do you mean?"

"This. Us," Kara replied, one finger going back and forth between them. "You used the word relationship, but that's vague. Friends have a friend relationship technically, and I know you well enough to know you'll use technicalities when needed. You're a rules lawyer. Earlier you said that we're not dating. What are we, Lena? I don't know about you, but I don't just go around kissing people."

"You want a definition. You want a label."

"I want something," Kara admitted. "I know we're not telling anyone, and maybe that should make labels less important. Maybe labels shouldn't be important. I'm just having a hard time defining…us. I know I have feelings for you. Again, I don't just go around kissing people. I can count on two hands the number of people I've kissed, and I wouldn't need all of my fingers. Usually, it doesn't go beyond kissing. When I was younger and learning to control my powers, there were nose breaking incidents."

"I'm sorry, what?" Lena asked with a blink.

Sighing, Kara lifted up her hands and let them fall to her lap with exasperation. "I kissed a boy…or more than one and managed to break a nose in my excitement. Not my finest hour, let me tell you. It's fine now. I promise. I won't—"

"I trust you," Lena interrupted reaching out and taking Kara's hands that had begun to flutter around nervously. "I always feel safe with you. I've never felt like you were out of control, perhaps flustered, but not a threat of any kind. You, Kara Danvers, are too good and kind ever to be anything but a safe haven."

Kara nodded gratefully, her whole body calming as she wound her fingers up with Lena's. She felt grounded and seen.

"I don't want us to get off track from a conversation you obviously need to have, though," Lena continued. "Some form of definition is important to you, or at least some kind of acknowledgment of the direction in which we're moving. Honestly, since we're not revealing us to the world, maybe it's even more important that we have this discussion, that we set some relationship rules."

"You think?"

With a kind smile, Lena nodded. "Let's look at your sister and her girlfriend. If you saw the detective at a bar hitting on some girl, you'd be furious, and you'd take her aside and give her what for. Now, in the same situation, if your sister saw me at a bar coming on to a lady, she'd think nothing of it. I'm not saying a fear of infidelity is the only reason to strike rules, but we'll have a much narrower world. When you go out with your friends, and they're coupled up, you won't be. I'm sure that will be difficult for you."

"Well, for you too."

Lena shrugged. "Kara, you are the only friend I have in this city. For me, it's been lunches with a certain blonde reporter, some dinners when we can squeeze them in. Now I'll simply be going on a date when that happens."

"So we'll be dating. Can we just say we're dating? Are we dating?"

"Well right now I'm—"

It was Kara's turn to interrupt. "I know, Lena. I know you're in the hospital right now, but I don't care about that. I mean I care. You know I care. Tonight though, let's go on a date. Let me bring us dinner, and we'll stay in on a date right here. Let's just get the semantics piece of it out of the way, okay?"

"This really matters to you."

"It does," Kara agreed.

"Thank you for telling me. I'm sorry I didn't notice."

"Well, you've had a lot going on," Kara said with a sheepish smile.

"True, but I'm not going to use that as an excuse. Since we'll be dating, you're going to notice I can get a bit immersed in whatever it is that I'm doing. When I was younger and working in R&D, I'd more than once get up from my chair and nearly fall over having not eaten a thing all day. I had to set alarms to remind me that nutrition was an important part of the process…and oh how I hated those interrupters."

With a quiet laugh, Kara murmured, "I don't have that problem."

"My point being, I'm not always capable of self-care when I become enraptured in a project. Nowadays it is usually some contract negotiations, though I do manage to roll up my sleeves and dig into a project for L-Corp for time to time," Lena added with a winsome smile. "I don't want you, us, to fall by the wayside because it seems that I don't value this relationship. You've seen me at work. You know me, Kara. I may be single-minded in my focus—"

"You've always made time for me. You gave me unrestricted access to your office. You took lunches and gave up part of your day while trying to run a multi-billion dollar company. You let me in."

With a smile made of hard lines and sharp edges, Lena admitted, "I knew Lex was slipping away long before the world knew. I didn't know what was going on. I swear to God, I had no idea what he was planning, but I knew my brother was slipping away. He was always the kindest and most loving person to me, but day by day he changed, and though I tried, I eventually found I couldn't reach him. I tried Kara. I tried so hard to find that boy who greeted me the day I appeared in the Luthor home; the boy who smiled with love in his eyes and said he was my brother. He loved me, but there came a time when that boy was drowned under xenophobia and hatred. I could never be like my mother or my brother, never hate aliens, because that hatred took my brother from me. It left me hurt though. The walls went up, brick by brick, and I pushed away everyone who cared long before Lex's madness shocked the world and anyone who was still trying stopped anyway. Then I was alone, moving to a new city, trying to make amends to the world for the things the name Luthor had done, and never expecting anyone would break through that wall until…" Head tilted to the side, Lena's smile changed.

"I walked in."

With a nod, Lena said, "You walked in and something…God, I don't even know what happened. I wasn't looking for a friend. I definitely wasn't looking for this. L-Corp needed good press, but that was your cousin. Then up you showed up eager to make your name in reporting, as eager as I was to make my name separate from my family. There was just something about you that seemed so earnest, so bright and good. I've felt muddled and mired for as long as I can remember, but you were this light and…" Looking down, Lena shook her head.

"That's not how I see you." When Lena lifted her face, and their gazes met, Kara continued. "You have so much potential for good, more than most people, and I say that as someone with a lot of faith in humanity. I could see that potential the day we met. Lena, I knew you really meant what you said, that you were here for a new start away from your family and you wanted to do good. When I look at you, I can see how much good you can do. I was drawn to that from that first day, and it kept me coming back again and again. People talk about you being a Luthor, and they ignore who you really are. They dismiss every time you make an advance in technology or medicine that helps this world, or even when you take a stand against your family and save lives. I love my friends, but sometimes I'm really disappointed that they try and justify their prejudice against you because of your family while ignoring how incredibly tolerant you are."

Shrugging, Lena replied, "To be fair, I haven't been completely insulated from my family's xenophobia. I did consider mass producing that alien detection device."

"But you didn't mass produce it."

"Because a certain passionate young reporter argued with me in a very heartfelt way and gave me some constructive food for thought. I had to consider both sides of that issue for some time. In the end, you were right. There are good and bad people in this world, and I couldn't put something out there with the intent of protecting humans from bad aliens when it would be allowing bad humans to target all aliens. It was just profiling."

"And that's the difference between you and your family. You don't believe that the rights of all humans are inherently greater than those of any alien. When you see people, you just see…people."

Lena shrugged. "Every single day I'm hated not because of anything I've ever done but because of who I am because of an accident of my birth. Every day I know there is someone, more than one someone, likely someone who hasn't met me but deeply hates me just because of my last name. It's not fair; it's not fun, and if I think about it, it's deeply disturbing. There is no way in hell I am paying that particular gift forward to another person. If I'm going to have a problem with someone, if I'm going to hate someone, they're going to earn it personally."

"I really wish we didn't have to hate anyone."

Her lips twisting into an odd smile, Lena replied, "You don't have to sit through my board meetings."

"Okay, but still—"

"How about my mother?"

"Uh…" Eyes wide, Kara's mouth hung slightly open.

"I withdraw the question. That wasn't fair. Anyway, on the matter of my family's xenophobia, I suppose I was fortunate after a fact," Lena admitted. "Mother was more than happy to send me away to boarding school after Father passed away. I'd seen a picture of my birth mother, and I knew I resembled her, but I didn't understand until recently how painful looking at me must have been to Mother. Each day I was an increasing reminder of my father's infidelity as I grew more and more to look like the woman that…" Lena spread out her hands, a humorless smile on her lips.

"Lionel died when you were…?"

"Eleven. We all stood firmly as a family for about three months afterward, made plenty of public appearances together so the press could get pictures of us, then when the public had gotten tired of the Luthor clan, Mother announced I'd be moving schools. Lex was already in college, and I was a Freshman—"

"At eleven," Kara shook her head. "Right, I knew that Miss Smartypants. Go on."

"I was already in an advanced class, so Mother moved me to an excellent school in Switzerland where the teachers would be able to work with me on my accelerated course program and guarantee my advancement into the university of my choice. Mother claimed it was because, as the acting CEO of Luthor Corp, she needed to focus on the business and leave my education to educators. Honestly, I didn't care. She could have sent me further away and I would have been happy. As much as I didn't want to leave the few friends I'd managed to make in Metropolis, it was worth it to not hear from her, day in and day out, about what a disappointment I was. I didn't realize it at the time, but I was suffering from depression. Moving out may have saved my life."

"But…" Kara paused, carefully choosing her words. It felt like Lena was stuck between a rock and a hard place, and Kara was left to dance carefully within this minefield. "You were in boarding school from the time you were eleven until you went off to college at like fifteen, right?"

Curious, Lena nodded.

"That means you were in boarding school when…when…Lori's in Switzerland because—"

Hands held up and eyes averted, Lena said, "Kara don't—"

"If you ever want to talk to anyone, just want someone to listen, I'm here. No pressure, no questions, but I'm here, okay?"

Her hands back in her lap again, Lena seemed to speak to them as she said, "So, not that I'm trying to get rid of you, but I do have business to do and I expect you have someone to go interview or some such?"

Recognizing the dismissal for what it was, Kara asked, "Interview?"

"You said you were in the neighborhood. I assume you have an interview or…" Lena paused, making eye contact as her brows rose. "Was this more related to your other job?"

"Oh, no. I'm here to see Maggie. She's going home this morning."

"Oh, and you're taking her home? I would have assumed your sister would be here for that. Is she otherwise occupied?"

"No, Alex will be here. I'm just here as a friend. You know, moral support and stuff."

"As a friend," Lena said, rolling around the phrase in her mouth as if she were trying it out for size. "Well, that's…nice, lovely really. Yes, well, I'm sure the detective will be thrilled to see you. Who wouldn't be? You should run along."

"Okay, I um…" Pushing back her seat as she stood, Kara moved the chair back to where she found it and made her way to the door. "I'll um…I'll…"

"Tonight?"

"Tonight?"

"We have a date tonight, or did you already forget?"

"Tonight!" Kara exclaimed, perking up immediately as she smiled with enthusiasm. "No, I didn't forget. I remembered. I remember. I'll bring food, lots of food, mainly for me though. You just bring you, okay? It will be a date."

"Well, I'll try to keep my schedule free, but I do have many pressing engagements."

"Hey, that's not funny. I've seen your schedule. Even in a coma, you had more appointments than I do, meeting with people and putting out fires." Kara stepped in closer, whispering, "And I spend part of my day **literally** putting out fires."

The first laugh pushed past Lena's lips, just an escape of air forced out against her will. The second was full and loud, a surrender to humor, a white flag to the stress of her days. One elbow on the arm of her chair, her face fell into her hand as she guffawed. The other arm wrapped around her stomach holding in straining abdominal muscles.

After several seconds of Lena's relentless laughter, Kara said, "It wasn't that funny. Nothing I've ever said was this funny."

Pulling her arm from around her torso, Lena slapped her free hand against the other arm of her wheelchair as her laughter just increased.

"Fire," Kara said as just that one word caused another eruption of laughter. Smiling and shaking her head, the blonde leaned forward and kissed Lena's forehead. "Okay chuckles, you've officially hit silly hour. I'm going to leave you to calm down and go check in on Maggie. I'll see you tonight around six so long as there are no disasters in the city like…a fire." When Lena shrieked with laughter, Kara made her way to the door opening it. "Hey, Jake."

"Yeah, Miss Danvers?" the nurse said as he came to the room, his face changing from a smile to one of curious concern when he took in Lena's near hysteria. "What's going on here?"

"Everything is funny," Kara explained. "Just make sure she doesn't pass out and fall out of her chair, okay? I've got to go."

"Uh, sure. Anything I should know about—?"

"Good luck!" Kara said, slapping him gently on the shoulder as she left the room. Taking the stairs, the blonde made it to the fourth floor in a few seconds. It took longer to get to Maggie's room since she had to travel the hallways at human speed. When she got there, Alex was already in there packing up Maggie's bag. "Hello, sister of mine and girlfriend of sister of mine!"

"Hey, Little Danvers. Here to see me off?"

"Yup," Kara replied, gently hugging Maggie who sat on the side of her bed. "How are you feeling? How's your head and the rest of you?"

"Fine, just fine. Don't sweat it, kid. I'll be back riding a desk by next week."

"No you won't," Alex said, not looking up as she folded clothes.

Shooting Alex the stink eye, Maggie said, "Hey, I seem to remember Vasquez telling me that you didn't take a day off last time you broke a bone, and your sister did that too…and that was a dick thing to point out, sorry Kara."

Shrugging, the blonde said, "It's okay. I mean, it's not okay. I broke Alex's arm, and it sucked. We're still dealing with some of the emotional backlash from the Red K incident."

"Another evil, rich scientist, hell-bent on ridding the world of aliens, causing more harm to humans than anything else," Alex noted.

"Who is this?" Maggie asked.

"Maxwell Lord," Kara explained.

"Ah, yeah he's dirty, but we've never been able to pin anything on him. He was behind Supergirl's temper tantrum?"

"Yeah, he's a xenophobic asshole. I'm going to get your toiletries," Alex said as she walked off to the bathroom.

"Hey Mags!" Winn said as he bounced a bit entering the room. "We hear they're finally springing you from this joint. James and I wondered if we'd have to distract the guards while Kara broke you out of here. Because, like, I'd be totally down for doing that for you. That's the kind of friend I am."

Maggie chuckled, accepting a hug from Winn and another from James who had come in with him.

As James stepped back, he said, "What Winn is trying to say is, we're glad you're in good health and going home. How soon until you can go back to work?"

"Actually, I can—"

"It could be a few weeks," Alex said as she strode out of the bathroom, a small black case in her hand. She zipped it closed and tossed it into Maggie's bag. "That should be everything. We've already signed the discharge papers. I'll go grab your wheelchair."

"I can walk."

"Hospital regulations," Alex countered.

"Hey, Danvers, why did you get to sign my release paperwork? Did Winn create some extra paperwork for you while I was knocked out?" Maggie asked with a grin as she winked over at Winn.

"It's Dr. Danvers, and you can thank my doctorate for getting you released early. I'll be right back."

As Alex left the room, Maggie rolled her eyes then looked over at Kara. "Your sister is a slave driver. Seriously, I'm not sure if she's taking me back to her apartment or to her pyramid in the desert someplace. I do know I feel really badly for every DEO agent who works below her."

"Your sympathy is gratefully accepted," Winn said as he ducked his head sheepishly.

"That's basically the whole of the DEO besides J'onn and Lucy," Kara added. "Maybe me, yeah me, I'm kind of part of it but sort of not and still kind of yes. I'm tangentially associated." When everyone just watched her oddly, Kara asked, "What?"

"Tangentially associated?" James asked.

Nodding, Kara replied, "I have a day job. That makes me like a DEO orbital."

"You're hysterical, Little Danvers," Maggie said with a grin.

"Really?" Kara smiled brightly. "Usually I don't think I am, but Lena was just laughing when I left her, like laughing a lot. Maybe I'm finally getting the hang of Earth humor. It's about time."

"Lena's doing well today?" James asked with clear concern.

"Awww, thanks for asking James," Kara replied, not noticing that she clapped him on the upper arm with just a bit too much force in her gratitude and made him wince. "She's still doing great. She works too much, of course. If Lena's conscious, she's going to be working too much. We're going to have dinner tonight though; you know a…a…thing friends do." Kara stopped speaking briefly as she adjusted her glasses to try and obscure her growing nerves, but her hands flitted around as she began to speak again. "Totally platonic friends have dinner together like I have had with you, James…who I liked, so that's a bad example but Winn! Winn, I had dinner with you, and I don't like you. I mean, I like you. Who wouldn't like Winn? Winn's awesome. Isn't Winn awesome? Winn, you're awesome, and Alex, Alex is here! Alex, you're here!"

"Yes, I am," Alex replied as she pushed the wheelchair into the room and gave her sister and odd sideways glance. "Okay, I've got your ride, Sawyer. You all ready?"

"I've got her bag!" Kara said, grabbing the bag from the foot of the bed in her quest to avoid eye contact with anyone.

"Great, let's move out," Alex said.

"I can still walk," Maggie grumbled, but she got into the wheelchair. As her cellphone rang, she answered it. "Sawyer here."

"That better not be work. You're out on disability," Alex warned.

Maggie waved around a hand dismissively as her wheelchair was backed up and turned around. "Wait, who? Hold on. Hold on. Turn on the news," Maggie said as her hand covered the mouthpiece of her cellphone. Then into the phone added, "Yeah, I'm putting it on."

Grabbing the TV remote, James turned on the TV and began to flip through channels until he stopped on a newscaster. She stood in front of city hall. In the background, people stood with picket signs that read, 'Guilty as Hell!' and 'An Eye For An Eye'. Several police officers with misery etched on their faces stood keeping the picketers in line. Along the bottom of the screen was a banner that repeated and read, 'Banner case thrown out due to evidence contamination. Alleged murder to be released.'

"Mother fucker!" Maggie yelled into her phone. "Of course I see it. Why the fuck do you think I'm yelling, Erickson?"

"Whoa," James breathed as he sat heavily in a chair. "Banner's being released? This is major?"

"Who's Banner?" Winn asked. "I spend my days in a box looking at code. Unless this guy is an alien, he doesn't make my radar. That's literal radar, by the way."

"Uh, yeah, Banner's a seriously bad dude. He was pulled over on a normal traffic violation, failure to register and a tail light out. When the cop came to talk to him, the guy seemed chill, very charming and all. He had no priors. When the cop was sitting in his cruiser checking the guy, he got an alert for a missing girl, and the description of the car matched the one Banner was driving. Long story short, the girl was in the trunk. Banner got arrested, and a search of his place led to some blood evidence but no bodies. Eventually, they found the bodies in a field a few miles away, and his lawyers tried to say that someone else put the tools in his basement. There was none of his DNA on them."

"I know this case," Alex said. "The kidnapped girl, she was a transient, and she disappeared, right?"

James nodded. "So they had no real evidence that showed he had abducted anyone. He claimed the girl and he were roleplaying something, and he hadn't resisted arrest or given a statement. The girl was tied up but not hurt when the cops found her in the trunk, and she didn't make a statement. No clue what that psycho said to her."

"All of the files, you hear me, Erickson!?" Maggie yelled into her phone. I want them all, along with the list of everyone who worked on this case, the names of every tech who handled evidence, and I want security camera footage for evidence lockup since the first piece of evidence went in there. Understood!?"

"Do you want me to—?"

Meeting Winn's gaze, Maggie furiously nodded at him.

"You get it all over to my apartment today!" Maggie yelled into the phone. "That bastard is not getting off to kill another girl!"

"Honey, you'll be at my apartment and—"

"Danvers' apartment, bring it to Danvers' apartment!"

"You're on leave, Mags," Alex added. When Maggie stared daggers at her, Alex rubbed at her girlfriend's shoulders and asked, "How can I help?"

Her free hand on one of Alex's, Maggie nodded and said, "Erickson, bring beer. Alex and I will pick up pizza. Bring over whatever you can have ready in two hours. We'll start from there."

When Maggie disconnected, Alex kissed her temple. "I love you."

"I love you too," Maggie replied, squeezing Alex's hand again. "Thank you. This just…that fucker he killed them but first he…"

"You don't have to explain," Alex assured Maggie. "It's the job. Sometimes we have to be the job. I've got your back."

"I'll start hacking NCPD video surveillance and get you that data," Winn offered.

"I can see what we have on this case," James offered. "It was fairly well publicized, so I doubt there is much that isn't known, but maybe there are some names that jump out."

"I'll…carry this bag," Kara replied. "Sorry. This doesn't sound relevant, but it is police business. You don't need me, do you?"

"Nah, unless you want to go punch the guy. Do you want to go punch the guy?" Maggie asked.

"A lot," Kara said nodding furiously. "Maybe I could help him park his car…upside down…in his living room."

"Awww, you're a helpful helper, Kara Bear," Winn said, throwing a big hug around Kara.

"I try," Kara admitted. "Seriously, if there is a way I can help without officially helping, let me know. Not tonight though. Tonight I have plans, okay?"

Maggie nodded. "I think you're good for now, Little Danvers. There will be a lot of reading over of files, setting up to see if we need to take a deeper dive into people of interest. Winn, if anyone looks suspicious, I may need to borrow your expertise again. It's too early to see if we'll be begging for any warrants in this shit show."

"Hey, if you need any information without a warrant, let me know." When Maggie shot Winn the stink eye, he added. "What? I work for a shady government organization. Warrants aren't our best thing."

"Yeah, but these are private citizens, maybe cops," Maggie reminded him.

Shrugging, Winn replied, "Hey, you say banana. I say…"

"That would still be banana," Alex said with a head shake. "Seriously, though, if we need to flex any black op muscle, let us know."

"Have you guys learned nothing? This is an NCPD operation. We do this by the books."

"Except for the part where I hack into your surveillance system and get you footage for the past year or so?" Winn pointed out.

"I could get those within the system," Maggie countered. "That's just semantics. This has got to be by the books if we're going to nail this guy."

"Fine," Winn replied. "Man, I'm glad I don't work for the cops. It sounds boring. Uh, but not you, Magpie. You're like super exciting and pretty, and I think you're really—"

"Shut up Winn."

"Right, sorry Alex," he replied nodding a lot.

"We good to go?" Alex asked.

"As good as we're getting," Maggie replied as James turned off the TV.

One by one the group made their way to the door. The mood was noticeably more somber than it had been when they first gathered. It was supposed to be a celebration, Maggie's release from the hospital and a well-deserved rest and recuperation. Now she was back in the thick of things, ready to dive into contaminated physical evidence to find out why a murderer had gone free.

"So, what kind of pizza are you getting?" Kara asked.

"If you aren't helping, you aren't eating our food, Kara. You aren't invited," Alex said.

As she followed the group out of the room, Kara was silent but then suggested, "I could pick up the food."

"No, Kara! You can't eat our pizza!"

With a sigh, Kara mumbled under her breath, "That's not literally accurate. I can always eat pizza."


	32. 32-Detective Dimples

**Chapter 32 Detective Dimples**

Brows heavily pressed together, Lena studied the information on her laptop. Her fingertips drummed out a steady beat with one hand while her others sat lightly against her left temple. The frown on her face seemed to be etched there. It hadn't receded in over an hour. Occasionally she'd pulled off her glasses to rub at her eyes, but that didn't make the information below on the screen any better, so the frown remained.

At this moment the glasses and frown were still firmly in place, but when there was a knock on the door, Lena pulled off her glasses and smiled slightly as she said, "Come in." As Kalia entered, the smile fell off Lena's face. "Oh. What is it now?"

Closing the door behind her with a click, Kalia replied, "Good to see you too, Princess. So, want to guess why I'm here again?"

"Kalia, please," Lena replied with a sigh. "I've got a situation a situation at L-Corp that needs my attention. I'm much too busy for—"

"Anyone that isn't Kara?" Kalia said with a smirk.

Clearing her throat, Lena replied, "Anything that isn't critical. You took my vitals at the start of the shift. I'm fine. Are we done?"

"No, we're not done. You should have eaten an hour ago, and your nutrition is critical." The nurse dropped the menu on the keyboard of Lena's laptop. "Pick something out since you didn't do it beforehand. Since you bought roughly half this hospital, I bet they'll cook it for you."

"It's that late?" Checking the time on her laptop, Lena nodded. "I hadn't realized. Well, it doesn't matter. Kara is coming with food. We're eating dinner together. I'll wait for her."

"Right, you told me that when my shift started, and that was fine when she was going to be here at six o'clock. She's an hour late."

"She'll be here."

"I heard you the first time. It doesn't change the fact that if you don't eat you don't heal. So you're dinner—"

"Kara will be here," Lena insisted again.

After a few moments of staring match, Kalia made her way to the door and locking it before returning to pull up a chair. Arms crossed, she leaned back and said, "Okay, let's talk about her."

"There's nothing to talk about," Lena replied casually. "I agreed to have dinner with my friend who's running late. These things happen."

"Did she call?"

Through force of will, Lena managed to not look at the TV silent playing off to the side. The news was showing an earlier footage of Supergirl putting out a fire downtown.

"She let me know she'd be late, yes. I just didn't realize the time."

With a loud sigh, Kalia said, "Fine, so she's late. Still, an hour is awful late for your **friend** to be late for dinner. Something happen between you two? You sure she's still coming?"

"Why would you say friend like that?"

"Oh, for Christ's sake Lena. I'm on board, okay? I even encouraged this. You don't need to be defensive. If there's a problem, you can even talk to me about it. Just—"

"Kalia no, absolutely, no." Lena's hands swung back and forth quickly in front of her. "There is no…anything but friendship, all right? I need you to hear that from me and understand it. Do you understand?"

"Well, I hear you, but it's utter bull shit. You know I know that. What's the big deal?"

With a sigh, Lena pinched the bridge of her nose and took a moment before continuing. "Kalia, it is the truth. It's what I'm telling you, and it's the truth. Kara and I, we're just friends. She'll tell you the same thing too. If anyone asks you about us, that's what you need to tell them. Anyone."

As her eyes narrowed, Kalia leaned forward onto her elbows. "Is this an order?"

"Absolutely not. Orders can have counter orders. Higher ups can countermand what has been put in place. I'm asking a favor as a friend." Giving that a moment to sink in Lena added, "Kalia, please, Kara needs her privacy. She doesn't need to be messed up with the likes of me. She and I need to remain just friends. Give me this."

Taking one of Lena's hands in hers, Kalia said, "There's nothing wrong with you. You know that, right kid?"

Pulling back her hand, Lena replied, "Don't, just don't. Empty platitudes are wasted on the likes of us. I don't need your comfort. I need—"

"My protection," Kalia said as she stood, the feet of her chair scraping harshly against the floor, the sound reverberating off the walls and filling in the space around them. "You have that. You'll always have that. I should have saved him, but I didn't. I won't let you down."

Mouth opening for a moment, Lena shut it then nodded before replying, "And Kara?"

"You mean your friend Kara? She better get her ass here with dinner soon, or she's going to need someone to protect her from me. I'm losing my patience."

As Kalia reached the door, Lena asked, "You had patience?"

Looking over her shoulder, Kalia replied, "Frightening, right?" Winking, she left the room, closing the door behind her.

Sliding her glasses back on her face, Lena went back to looking at her laptop again. In short order, the frown and furrowed brows had returned. She hadn't even realized it until Kalia had left, but as annoying as the other woman could be, she was far less annoying than the issue at hand. Lena was less than five minutes into dealing with said issue when there was a knock at the door.

Snapping her glasses quickly away from her face, Lena just as quickly snapped, "What is it now!?"

"Lena?" Came a voice from the other side of the door.

"Kara? Oh, Kara. Kara, I'm so sorry. Come in," Lena said as she closed her laptop.

"Are you all right?" Kara asked as she entered, a large bag in one hand.

A not particularly convincing smile plastered onto her face, Lena nodded. "Yes. Of course. It was just…work was…Kalia had…" She sighed. "I apologize. It was just an avalanche of annoyances, none of which are important now that you are here. How was your day, besides the fire I mean?"

Kara closed and locked the door as she made her way to the woman in the wheelchair. Leaning down, the blonde lay a gentle kiss on Lena's cheek. "The usual. Snapper was a grouch. I suggested three articles I knew he wouldn't let me write so I could suggest an article he'd let me write, and then James covered for me so I could deal with—"

"Putting out a literal fire," Lena finished for the blonde. "It seems like you're getting better a handling Mr. Carr. Does he always reject your first three articles?"

Kara put down the bag of food as she made her way over to the windows. "He doesn't even listen to my first three proposals. He just says, 'Ridiculous. Pathetic. Do I really pay you to be a reporter, Ponytail?'" Kara said in her best Snapper imitation which wasn't very good but garnered a chuckle anyway. "Now that I know he doesn't listen and puts down my first few ideas out of hand, I can suggest a miniature Doberman tie-dying contest article every Monday, and the effects of Zero-Gs on Sea Monkeys every Tuesday. I've been doing it for three months now. I feel like he and I have really hit our stride as editor and reporter."

As Kara opened a widow, Lena's smile started to fall away as she asked, "What are you doing?"

"I have to get something. I'll be right back."

Lena watched Kara jump out the window, disappearing up and out of sight. With a sigh and an eye roll, she said, "If I had a nickel for every first date that started out this way…"

Less than a minute later, Kara reappeared in front of the window. She had a tote bag in one hand and something wooden, maybe two-feet by four-feet across with a handle on one end, in the other hand. She carefully placed the wooden thing through the room lengthwise. Then she stepped in carrying the bag.

"All right, color me intrigued. What's all this then?" Lena asked.

Smiling broadly, Kara put the bag on the bed then unhooked something on the side of the wooden thing and unfolded it, revealing folded down legs. She placed it at one end of the room, setting it up to reveal a four-foot by four-foot table. "Ta-da!" she announced.

"I see. We're dining in style tonight."

"Well, it is our first date," Kara replied with an eyebrow waggle that made Lena grin. Returning to the bag and opening it, Kara began to unpack it. The contents within were: flowers, a vase, a tablecloth, plates, napkins, utensils, cups, and what looked like candles but were obviously electronic. Holding one up Kara said, "I wanted to bring real ones, but I was fairly certain hospitals had decent smoke detectors. Any, I'm the last person who should be starting a fire at a hospital."

"Well, that's one way to keep yourself in business…if you got paid for your second job that is," Lena commented as Kara put a dark blue tablecloth on the table. "Was everyone okay at today's incident?"

Kara nodded. "Some smoke inhalation, but that's par for the course. We rarely get off scot free." Pausing, Kara looked at Lena, her brows drawn together. "What does that mean, scot free? So many expressions from Earth have always confounded me."

"A scot is a tax from Medieval England. Based on the size of someone's land, a tax was levied on them. However, some people would avoid this tax by building in flood areas or on a hill, thus getting off scot free," Lena explained.

Staring at Lena with arms crossed, Kara accused, "You just made that up. There is no way you actually knew that."

Lena shrugged and smirked rather smugly. "Maybe or maybe people who were actually born on this planet just know that kind of thing."

Squinting at Lena, Kara grabbed the vase as she spun on her heel and said, "I'm not talking to you anymore."

As the water ran in the bathroom, Lena mumbled, "That should last about thirty seconds."

Maybe twenty seconds later, Kara walked back onto the room with a vase filled with water and said, "You know what I was thinking?" She didn't notice Lena's eye roll and continued, "When you're back on your feet with a one hundred percent clean bill of health, we should go hiking."

"Hiking."

Arranging the flowers in the vase, Kara nodded without looking back at Lena. "You spend too much time in your office sitting all day. That's not good for your health. You should walk more. Sitting can lead to blood clots which can lead to strokes. How did your father die?"

"Lionel was a stress ridden, highly driven, workaholic, alcoholic…" When Kara looked at her with raised eyebrows, Lena pursed her lips then said, "Right, I'm not exactly helping my own cause here, am I? So, hiking you say. Do you hike?"

"Not really," Kara replied as she turned on the electric candles.

"What exercises do you do?"

"Besides carrying airplanes and space shuttles on my back?" Kara asked with a laugh. "Sometimes I spar in the training room with Alex."

"Is that safe, for Alex I mean?" Lena clarified.

"Oh, we have Kryptonite emitters, so I'm only human strength. She usually kicks my butt," Kara confided. "My sister is a bad ass."

"Kryptonite emitters," Lena said slowly and quietly as an odd look took over her visage.

After a few moments, Kara came over and waved in the CEO's face. "Hello, Lena? Are you still in there?"

"Hmmm? What?"

"Where did you go? You said, 'Kryptonite emitters' and then you sort of spaced out, and that's coming from someone from space. Are you okay? Your face got…weird."

"Weird?" Lena smiled. "Did my face look more 'scientific awe and wonder' or 'Luthor evil scheme' when I spaced out?"

"Scientific awe and wonder, definitely," Kara said with a laugh.

"Good," Lena replied. "I've been practicing hiding my Luthor evil scheme look behind that one. My hard work must be paying off."

Pushing Lena's wheelchair toward the table, Kara said, "Well, you deserve a good meal after all that hard work, Ms. Luthor."

As Kara pushed her to the table, Lena looked back at the bag of food and asked, "By any chance, is there wine in that bag?"

"No, you're still taking medication. Alcohol and medication don't mix."

"That's not true. They mix fantastically," Lena replied. "I prefer to self-medicate."

"Not on my watch. I did bring chocolate, though."

"Hmmm."

"Vegan chocolate," Kara added in a sing-song voice.

"You're going to eat vegan chocolate?"

"Oh, great Rao above no! You're going to eat vegan chocolate. I'm going to eat this chocolate three layer cake which is about six inches across and…never mind. You'll be appalled, but it looks delicious."

"You're having chocolate cake for dinner?"

"What am I a barbarian? I'm having it for dessert after I eat my dinners," Kara replied as she retrieved the bag and pulled out the food containers. She also pulled out what looked like a wine bottle and said, "Sparkling cider. It's the best we're going to do until you're cleared to drink."

"Kara, this is amazing," Lena said as Kara began to plate their food

"Yeah?"

"You're amazing," Lena added. "Honestly, I would have been happy just to spend the evening sitting and talking to you. This is fantastic, and I appreciate the effort, but… No, no buts. This is fantastic. Thank you."

"You're welcome, but it's just dinner. It's just dinner from Noonan's. I'm sure you've had better food."

"But not better company," Lena retorted. "Kara, I've eaten at many fancy restaurants. I've had several dates spend money on me, but it's been a very long time since someone has invested themselves in me. You're just…"

As Kara finished putting the first of her meals on her plate, Lena's was already plated, she sat down and looked up to find Lena staring at her. "What?"

"Thank you," Lena said, reaching a hand across the table.

"You're welcome," Kara replied, reaching across the table to take Lena's hand in her own. They sat there for a minute or two, holding hands, before Kara withdrew her hand and said, "You should eat your salad before it gets warm. I could cool it off for you but…"

"Cool it off for me?" Lena asked as she speared a piece of kale.

Picking up the bottle of sparkling cider, Kara held it off to the side and breathed on it. Crystals formed on the side as the bottle and contents were chilled. Kara took off the foil and used her thumb like a bottle opener to pop off the lid. She poured some into the cup for her and Lena.

"I would have brought wine glasses, but I was afraid they'd break on the flight over. I thought the vase was thick enough for the trip, but not glasses especially if I saw an incident on the way over and had to stop."

Taking a sip, Lena smiled and said, "Freeze breath. Very tricky, Miss Danvers."

Smiling back, Kara pulled down her glasses and heated up her pasta before beginning to eat.

Her smile growing, Lena said, "Is there anything you can't do?"

With a shrug, Kara replied, "Probably. We can find out."

"I look forward to exploring all sorts of possibilities. So, Krypton."

"Krypton?" Kara asked as she took a sip of her drink. "What about Krypton?"

"I've always been incredibly curious about Krypton, but it never seemed appropriate to ask…I almost said Supergirl. This will take some getting used to. At any rate, I've always been curious. Is it a comfortable subject to discuss? If not, we can talk about anything else in the world, any world really."

"No, it's fine," Kara said with a smile. "Some things bother me, but it's nice to talk about my home. I don't want to forget them, and talking about my world and my people keep them alive with me. That's important."

Lena nodded back and smiled.

"What do you want to know?"

"Anything, really," Lena replied. "I'm a scientist and a person. The idea of another world, people from another world, it all fascinates me. You could talk about the society, plants, art, the people there, and I'd be equally enthralled."

"Or I could give you the specifications for the engine that allowed us to travel faster than the speed of light," Kara commented casually as she twirled her pasta.

Fork dropping from her hand with a clatter on the plate, Lena's mouth hung open.

"Uh…kidding," Kara said, holding out her free hand. "I was only eleven when I left home. I was still in my early years of school. I learned a lot but not that."

"Ugh!" Lena said dramatically as she grabbed her fork and stabbed a piece of tomato with a vengeance before popping it into her mouth and mumbling as she chewed. "…bitch."

"Hey now," Kara said as she swallowed. "Someone doesn't enjoy being teased as much as she enjoys teasing, now does she?"

"Not about science," Lena replied as she pointed with her fork. "Science is exciting in some very special ways to me."

"So, science is your foreplay?" Kara asked going for casual and missing horribly.

"No, foreplay is my foreplay. You take science and then add foreplay to it, and you get…" As her smile grew, Lena shifted a bit forward and smiled dangerously, her eyes sparkling as she stared at Kara.

Breaking the staring match, Kara shoveled more pasta into her mouth as her color rose up the back of her neck.

Taking another bite of salad, Lena's attitude shifted to casual again as she said, "Tell me something about Krypton. What would you like to share?"

Clearing her throat, Kara said, "Well, there was this fruit I absolutely loved when I was young. It was called a twellian. It was such a sweet and succulent fruit. It was green and bumpy, about the size of a baseball. You had to cut it open and scoop out the center that was soft and orange when it was ripe. I've never found anything on Earth that tasted like a twellian."

"A twellian, how fascinating. I wonder if they grew on any other planets in your galaxy. Maybe you'll find them again."

"You think?" Kara asked, perking up.

"Darling, you and your cousin made it all the way here from another universe. Is it really so strange to think a delicious fruit was exported to other planets to be grown there? I'd be surprised if it weren't. You know other aliens, Kara. Why don't you ask any of them if they've seen it on any other planets," Lena urged.

Nodding, Kara replied, "Thanks. I think I will. Maybe they'll have thoni tea somewhere else too."

"And what's thoni tea?" Lena asked as she ate a bit more salad.

"I've never had it, but I remember sitting with my mother while she sipped thoni tea. It smelled incredible. When I was young, my mother used to read and let me lie with my head in her lap while she stroked my hair. She'd sip her tea, and I would fall asleep to the feeling of her fingers going through my hair, lightly scratching my scalp, and the smell of her tea. It's such a good memory." As Lena's eyes grew distant, Kara asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing I…my mother drank tea."

"Lillian?"

"No, my birth mother."

"Your birth mother," Kara said, considering this person. "Tell me about her?"

"I don't remember much. I was only four when she died."

"How?" Kara asked, immediately regretting the question. "I mean, you don't have to—"

"There was an accident, a car accident. That's what people told me. It was all very confusing for a little girl. I was in the foster care system for a few weeks, maybe months, when they took me to the office and Lionel was there. They said he was adopting me, and I was going home with him and his family. I was scared."

"Of Lionel?"

"Of everything at that time. I'd lost my mother, and she was my whole world. Suddenly I was in this group home with other girls, and most of them were much older than me. I cried a lot and tried to hide it because that just made things worse. Then this big man showed up and said he was going to be my new father. I'd never had a father. I'd hardly ever been around men, and Lionel was not a small man. My mother always said I had a father who loved us, but he was sort of like Santa Claus. I believed in him because my mother said he was real, but I never saw him. Then this American showed up and took me to a big city to live with his family. If not for Lex, I think I would have cried myself to sleep every night."

Sensing Lena's anxiety, Kara suggested, "Tell me about your birth mother, something good that you remember."

Mind going back, Lena said, "Music, I remember music. There was always music in the house. I remember sitting on the floor playing or reading while my mother would play an instrument. We had this piano in the living room, and sometimes I'd lie back under it and listen while I read my books."

"You were reading at four. I bet they weren't little kids books either you little genius nerd."

"They were younger books," Lena replied, but she grinned. "They definitely weren't preschool appropriate, but they were primary school books."

"Your turn," Lena said. "What else did you do back on your planet?"

"Hmmm." Chewing another forkful of pasta, Kara swallowed and said, "My parents took me to the zoo when I was very young. I remember riding the grillig."

"What's a grillig?"

"Um, sort of like an Earth elephant I guess?" Kara replied. "Well, I guess it was more like some kind of herbivore dinosaur if we're comparing them to Earth creatures. They had long faces, were kind of tan/orange in color, and had a long spike on the top of their noses. They were very docile though."

"You rode a dinosaur," Lena said dryly.

"A grillig," Kara corrected.

"Right, right, a space dinosaur. That makes me so much less envious," Lena said with an eye roll as she speared more of her salad and stuffed it into her mouth. As she chewed, a smile appeared in the corners of her mouth, and her eyes sparkled with mirth.

Head shaking as she smiled back, Kara asked, "And what sort of games did little miss Lena Luthor play while I was off riding space dinosaurs?"

Lena snorted. "Sorry. Space dinosaurs, that's funny. You mean when I was still with my birth mother?"

Kara nodded.

"Well, I'm sure I played the normal little kids peek-a-boo games when I was a baby."

"You said you played games when you listened to her play music. What kind of games did you play?" Kara asked again.

"I did, didn't I?" Lena said as she sipped her cider. "Fine. I did math problems longhand and then checked them on a calculator."

"You did not. Lena Luthor, you put the nerd in…" Kara thought for a long moment, then said, "Nerd. You put the nerd in nerd."

"Nerd? Me? I'll have you know I was a chess champion by the age of seven." Hands above her head, Lena yelled, "Hollah!"

Startled, Kara snorted and laughed, choking on her cider. Eyes bulging, she coughed slightly once but kept her mouth sealed. Suddenly, she was gone from the room and into the bathroom when she began to cough violently into the sink.

"Ka…kara?" Lena asked as she looked around at her now empty hospital room. Twisting toward the bathroom where choughs and chokes erupted, she said, "Kara, are you okay?"

"Don't…cough…you…gasp…Le…cough…" Finally, wiping her face with a hand towel, Kara reappeared as she cleared her throat a last little bit. "Don't ever do that again. You almost wore that at super speed."

As Lena nodded, her cellphone rang from the end table on the bedside table.

"Just ignore it," Lena said.

"No, it could be Lori," Kara replied with a smile.

"That's not her ring—"

Kara was suddenly standing by the table with the phone in hand, staring down at the screen. "Maggie? You have Maggie in your phone?" She asked, looking over at Lena.

"Oh, it's Detective Sawyer? How…odd. I wonder why she's calling? Just let is go to voicemail," Lena said with a casual hand wave.

"I wonder if she tried to call me and Alex…answer it!" Kara said now standing next to Lena and holding the phone inches from her face. "Answer it!"

"Kara…decaf," Lena said, taking the phone and pressing the button to answer the call. "Hello, Detective Sawyer. This is a surprise. I'm getting quite a few surprises tonight. Kara has just stopped by. Is everything all right?"

Kara could hear Maggie's voice even though the phone wasn't on speaker. "Oh, Kara's there? Uh, yeah, Luthor. I was just calling to check-up on you as the recently released to the one still stuck in the hospital. How are you holding up?"

"Well, that's very kind of you, Detective. I'm feeling better and stronger every day. How are you?" Lena asked.

"Great, great. Thanks so much," Maggie replied. "Head still hurts a touch but not much. It's getting me tons of sympathy from Dr. Danvers and her prescription for love. You know, there's this thing she does and—"

"Kara can hear you," Lena interrupted.

"Right," Maggie said slowly. "I knew that. I did. Let's just blame that on the concussion. Can we do that? Sorry, Little Danvers. Is she all right?"

"Clearly traumatized, but I think she'll recover."

"She owes me donuts. Tell her she owes me donuts," Kara said.

"I heard her," Maggie replied. "Anyway, I'm glad you're doing well, Luthor. Maybe I'll call and check on you tomorrow if that's okay. Hospitals suck. Does tomorrow sound good, maybe around 9:00 AM?"

"That's very kind of you, Detective. I'm not certain on the time. I'll have to check on my PT schedule, but I should have some time to chat in the morning. I'm sure we can talk then," Lena replied. "Again, if there is anything I can do to assist in your recovery, please let me know. I may not be able to write you a prescription of any kind, but L-Corp is not without other resources."

"I'll keep that in mind, Luthor," Maggie said with a laugh. "Goodnight and goodnight to you Little Danvers."

"Goodnight, Detective."

"Goodnight, Maggie," Kara said, waving toward the phone. When Lena hung up, Kara added, "Maggie is awesome. That was super nice of her to call you."

"Super nice," Lena agreed.

The rest of their date went well with some more chit chat and no more choking incidents on anyone's part. After dinner, Kara cleaned up while Lena got ready for bed. Everything was away, even the table, by the time Lena was hauling herself onto her mattress and Kara was left to stand by anxiously.

As the dark-haired woman sat on the bed and pulled up her pajama leg, Kara said, "Do you need any with?"

"The braces?" Lena shrugged. "I can manage, but I wouldn't mind a hand. It would be faster with help, and I would expect it would be good for you to be familiar with the process if…"

"If?" Kara asked as she crouched in front of Lena and pulled up the other pajama leg.

"If were…doing whatever it is we're doing together here," Lena continued.

"Dating," Kara said.

"Well, yes, but I've dated many a person who wouldn't be here with me every day in the hospital, Kara, and wouldn't help me with devices that would help me stand. This feels much more…"

While Lena searched for a word, Kara suggested, "Committed?"

They both raised eyebrows and stared for a little while before Lena slowly said, "Substantial."

"Hmmm," Kara replied, going back to working on the brace on the left leg.

"You know, I told you once I never had a friend or family like you, Kara, and I meant it. You feel like family. You can't imagine how grateful I am to have you in my life."

"I feel the same," Kara said, pulling off the left brace and moving over to undo the bottom of the right one. "Feels better without it, doesn't it?"

"Yes, but even the discomfort is welcome. I can feel my toes, each and every one of them. I don't care if they hurt. I love it."

Kara nodded as she slipped off the brace and rubbed Lena's right foot casually.

"Mmmm," Lena said into the touch. "Kara, I wanted to talk to you about something, about where I'd be after I left here."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, my penthouse is an elevator to reach it, but beyond that, it has all of these little steps, just divides between rooms. I never thought anything about it before, but we've discussed it in PT. I could get ramps, or I could move elsewhere for a—"

"Move!"

Suddenly Lena found herself looking at Kara's abdomen. Slowly, she lifted her head until her gaze met blue eyes.

"Sorry," Kara said sheepishly. "That was a little fast I guess."

"A little," Lena agreed, patting the bed next to her. "Come sit down." When Kara was seated next to her, Lena said, "Kara, I won more than one property in National City. When I said move elsewhere, I didn't mean move away. I didn't mean I'd leave you."

"You didn't?"

Taking Kara's hand and pulling it into her lap, Lena played with the blonde's hand as she said, "I have no intention of moving further away from you, Kara. My intentions are just the opposite. I just hope you can be patient with me while I focus on my therapy right now."

"Of course. You getting healthy is what we both want. That has to be a priority. I understand that." When Lena yawned, Kara asked, "Ready for bed?"

"Unfortunately, yes. Stay with me for a few minutes?"

"I'd love to."

They cuddled under the covers for several minutes, kissing and touching lightly before Lena said, "It's time for you to go."

Kara grumbled then said, "Fine, but only because you need your beauty sleep?"

"My what?"

"You heard me. You're incredibly beautiful. You must sleep a lot to get that way."

"Nice save, Miss Danvers." As Kara headed over to the window, Lena said, "Kara you have to leave through the door, same way you came in."

Hefting the table, Kara said, "I need to put this stuff on the roof first. I'll be right back." She was out the window and back within a minute, the table and bag gone. Then she closed the window and said, "All set. See you tomorrow?"

"After work in the evening," Lena replied, giving Kara a final kiss. "I have a lot of work on which to catch up, and I have more PT tomorrow."

"More walking?"

"Every day," Lena agreed.

"Awesome," Kara agreed with a broad smile. "I'll see you tomorrow night."

As Kara left, Lena lay in bed for about three minutes before grabbing her phone where Kara had left it to charge on the bed side table. Hitting a recently dialed number, she spoke as soon as the phone was answered.

"What time is the meeting tomorrow?" After a pause, she said, "Good. Well, not good, but I'll be there. Send a car for me two hours before the meeting and…oh, that's even better. I'll see you then, and thank you as always. I don't know what I'd do without you." Smiling, Lena laughed. "Let's hope not. See you tomorrow."

Disconnecting, Lena opened her text messaging and sent out a message.

Lena: "I'm alone. Can you talk?"

There was about a five-minute wait before she received a text in return.

Maggie: "Sorry about the delay. I called earlier when Alex was at the store. Now I'm hiding in the crapper so I can get some privacy from her."

Lena: "That was an unnecessary bit of information, Detective."

Maggie: "LOL! You always have been so proper, Luthor."

Lena: "You've always been distinctively yourself, Detective. I apologize for Kara being here before. She brought over dinner and showed up late. I meant to let the call go to voicemail, but she saw it was you and was rather demanding that I answer the phone. I think she was concerned for her sister."

Maggie: "I'm just glad you told me she was there, or I could have said something we wouldn't have wanted her to overhear."

Lena: "Perhaps I should change your name in my phone. I was rather concerned when Kara picked it up and saw it was you. She briefly questioned me as to why you would be calling me."

Maggie: "Maybe you should change it to Detective Dimples."

Lena: "That sounds like a much worse idea. For now, let's just stick with the cover story of checking in on each other's well-being. Does Agent Danvers access your phone?"

Maggie: "No. With our jobs, we leave each other's phones alone. We're calling it a measure of trust in the relationship."

Lena: "Convenient given our…relationship."

Maggie: "So, we need to get together."

Maggie: "I don't think I can wait until you get out of there."

Lena: "I have a meeting tomorrow morning and will be leaving the hospital. Will you be alone tomorrow? Can I reach out to you when I'm done? It should be over by 10:00 AM, maybe even as early as 9:00 AM if things go my way."

Maggie: "Way I remember it, things always go your way."

A small smile lit her lips as Lena drummed her fingers for a moment before she typed into her phone again.

Lena: "Then let's assume I'll be done by 9:00 AM. We can meet at my house, but we won't be able to use that for much longer. I'll be residing there once I'm out of the hospital, and Kara will know about it. We'll need to find a new location. May I send you a car? I assume you aren't cleared to drive."

Maggie: "Yeah, a car works. Alex needs to go into work in the morning. I'll need to be back at her place by lunch, say noon."

Lena: "Consider it done. I'll call or text if I'm delayed for any reason."

Maggie: "Sounds good. Get a good night's sleep, Little Luthor. I'll see you in the AM."

Lena: "Rest well, Detective Dimples."

Maggie: "LMFAO!"

Brows furrowed, Lena stared at her screen trying to decrypt the acronym. After a few seconds, she yawned and put the phone aside. It wasn't worth her limited thinking space to trying and figure out what it meant. Surely she could google it. Surely she didn't care that much.


	33. 33-Old Friends

As her car pulled into the L-Corp private parking area at 7:00 A.M., Lena let out a long breath and tried to will herself to relax. She gripped the briefcase next to herself as if assuring herself, once again, that she had everything. She was prepared. Lena Luthor always was prepared, and today was certainly not going to be any different. True, today was going to be stressful and unpleasant, filled with underhanded calumniators, scurrilous statements, and perhaps even the occasional vituperation if she were really on her game. Like so many that had come before them, those who faced Lena underestimated her. You'd think by now they'd have learned. Some people seemed to enjoy learning this lesson again and again. She was getting exhausted teaching it.

As the car stopped, her driver popped the trunk and got out, walking around back. The vehicle shifted as the wheelchair was removed. It was another moment before the trunk closed. When the door opened, Lena looked over expecting to see her driver. The person there was a bit of a surprise.

"Oh, I didn't expect to see you down here."

Tilting her head to the side, Jess replied, "Where else would I be, Miss Luthor?"

Lena smiled, nodding at her driver as he pushed the wheelchair over. "Thank you, Franklin, and thank you, Jess. Thank you for all your work of late and the updates on this meeting. I'd like to say…ugh." Lena strained, lifting herself and turning into her chair. She dropped the footrests of her wheelchair, lifting her legs into place. "I'd like to say this little orchestration surprises me…but it doesn't."

"Which is why you had me monitoring all of their communications in your absence," Jess pointed out.

Lena inclined her head, smiling a bit sharply as her wheelchair was moved around toward her private elevator. "Imagine trying to arrange a secret meeting of the board via IM and text messages." Lena tsked. "Sounds absolutely covert."

"Ugh." Jess rolled her eyes as she walked along next to the CEO. "Then they shouldn't have used L-Corp equipment to do it. That sounds absolutely idiotic."

Chuckling as tension melted off of her, Lena grinned, "It does rather, doesn't it. So, what do you think the plan is, vote me out while I'm in the hospital and replace me?"

Jess pressed the button for Lena's private elevator as they came to a halt in front of the reflective doors. "I imagine…classless."

"Agreed," Lena said, taking a sheet of paper that Jess handed down to her and not looking up when the doors to the elevator opened, and she was whisked inside. She studied the paper which outlined the most recent communications between the board members, only the rise of one of her eyebrows indication any reaction. "Well, no surprises here. People are still proceeding according to character…or lack thereof. We've got to find a way to clean house when this is all over."

"Agreed," Jess said taking back the offered list. "You know, I was half tempted to not tell you about this little coup." Looking down at the obviously shocked face of the CEO, Jess nodded. "You heard me. You work too hard, Miss Luthor. You should get out from under this place while you're still young, and the golden parachute you'd have gotten from your forced resignation would have been more of a platinum one. You'd have been set up for life. You could have just sat back and enjoyed the good life; though knowing you, you would invest in your own startup company and thrown yourself back into work."

Chuckling, Lena said, "No rest for the wicked."

"You're not wicked, Miss Luthor," Jess replied, getting off the elevator when it chimed for the penthouse.

As Jess stood there, Lena held a hand up to her driver, staying her own progress. "So, what made you tell me what the board was up to? You've been acting in my stead since I was shot. The board might have named you interim CEO, and if that went well, the position could have been yours permanently."

"Jeez." Jess rolled her eyes. "That's what made me tell you. Doing your job for the past month has been bad enough. Doing it for much longer and I'll either toss someone off the balcony or jump off it myself. How can adults with degrees from Yale and Stanford be worse behaved than sugared up toddlers? I swear; it's like herding cats?"

"Oh, Jess." Lena beamed up at the other woman. "What I said to Kara was wrong."

"Hmmm?"

"You're my favorite."

With another eye roll, Jess just motioned the other woman toward her. "Just prove it then. Pull out some of that world renowned Lena Luthor ruthless, and put these idiots in their place. Then hurry up and get well, and come back to work before I take a swan dive off the balcony. If not, you'll find yourself looking for a new assistant. Without you, Supergirl hasn't been around, so no one has been here to catch me."

Managing to keep a neutral face at the mention of Supergirl's absence, Lena nodded while her chair was pushed forward past what was normally Jess' desk. She and Jess made her way toward Lena's office as she said, "Well, I certainly wouldn't want to lose you. Finding a decent assistant is hell. I suppose I'll just take care of this little incident with the board,"

"And get better and come back to work," Jess said it like a statement, but there was a hint of question to her words and even more so concern. She paused, hand on the door to Lena's office, obviously waiting for a response before opening it.

The CEO's smile was gentle as she spoke. "Therapy is going so well, Jess. You'd be amazed. The doctors all are. I can't tell you when I'll be released, but it will be far sooner than originally expected. Sorry to disappoint you, but I'll be taking my old positon here back. Don't get too comfortable in my chair."

Jess beamed, pushing the door open but not saying anything as Lena was wheeled into the office. Her attitude spoke volumes though.

Lena's driver was dismissed to the waiting area near Jess' desk so Lena and Jess could get to work. He was nearby if needed, and he'd make sure no one bothered them. The only way someone had access to the office was through the balcony, and Lena knew that if Supergirl showed up she had an entirely different set of issues.

"First, I'll need to change. Did you—?"

"Hanging in your bathroom," Jess responded before the question was even finished. "As requested I bought you a pants suit with wide legs all the way up. It's very different than anything you own. Do you need any help changing or…?"

"I shouldn't," Lena replied then smiled gently. "Though it will depend on what you got me in the way of shoes. Sometimes shoes can be a bitch."

"They're short boots that stop mid ankle. They're also loose and dark blue to match the suit. They have a zipper on the side, so they're easy to slip on and then easy to close. If you need any help, I'm here."

"A blue suit." Lips pursed, Lena asked. "And what color blouse?"

"Red."

"Blue and red, I'll be wearing clue and red." Lena pursed her lips, squinting up at Jess.

"Is the color choice a problem?" Jess asked. "I know you generally prefer blacks and whites but to get the wide pants on such short notice; I needed to go with blue. Since I didn't know what bra you'd be wearing I—"

"It's fine Jess," Lena said, holding up a hand to stop her assistant. "Honestly, I expect it's spectacular. Red is likely a better choice for today. Let them see me come in looking confident, powerful."

"You always look confident and powerful, Miss Luthor. I don't think you know how to do otherwise."

"Oh, you're good," Lena said with a smile. "My makeup?"

"It's in there. I matched the lipstick to your blouse. Between high heeled shoes and lipsticks, it's amazing you can fit anything else in your penthouse. This one should make the impression you want, though. The color was called Blood Red."

"As I said, Jess, you're good. I'll be a little bit getting ready," Lena said as she wheeled herself toward the bathroom. "Would you be so kind as to grab my tablet and print nine copies of the document I prepared for the board?"

"Of course Miss Luthor. Anything else?"

"That will be all, Jess. Oh, coffee! I'd kill for a coffee. Not you, of course. You're safe, but I'd kill half the board." Lena laughed. "Who are we kidding? I'd kill half the board most days. Coffee's just an excuse."

"Then maybe I should skip the coffee and get your pistol from your desk drawer. That will certainly make this meeting go faster."

At the entrance to the bathroom, Lena stopped, rotating her chair slightly, and stared at Jess. For several beats, Jess stared back. Neither one of them broke, both of their faces completely neutral while they contemplated.

Finally, Lena tilted her head and pointed out, "I expect I'd go to jail."

"Oh, true; then there's the possibility I could still end up with your job."

They both mumbled something noncommittal.

"Well, another lovely little fantasy shot to hell…No pun intended. Coffee or printing first, Miss Luthor?"

"Coffee, please."

"And breakfast." Jess waggled a finger when Lena tried to speak. "Don't tell me you're not hungry or that you've already eaten. I know you too well and have known you too long for that, Miss Luthor. I'll get you something light, maybe fruit and yogurt. How does that sound?"

"Perfect as usual," Lena sighed. "Jess, what did I do to deserve you?"

"I honestly don't know," Jess said as she headed toward the door. "Maybe it's karma for your family. You certainly never deserved them, Miss Luthor. You're too good for them."

Lena watched Jess leave without looking back or uttering another word. When the CEO heard the elevator ding in the other room, she smiled to herself and said, "I was right, Jess. You are my favorite." Then she wheeled herself into the bathroom to don her armor. After all, she was dressing for battle.

The nine members of the L-Corp Board of Directors sat around the boardroom's enormous table carrying on a rather heated argument. They seemed to be split into four factions. One supported Lena Luthor unswervingly. A second had less steadfast allegiance but felt the timing for a shift of leadership would be a PR disaster. Yet a third disagreed and thought L-Corp needed this move to save stock prices that were on the decline, no matter what anyone wanted to point out about them now rising, since Miss Luthor's shooting, and they had a suggestion or two who should be put in her place. This third group also wanted to point out that having a head of the company that walked around with a target on her back was going to be continually bad for the stock prices. The fourth group was the ringleaders for the meeting, and they had been trying to get rid of Lena for a while now. They tried to oust her when she was arrested after Lillian's escape from jail. If not for a stay order on any board meetings as part of the ongoing legal investigation into Lena's living power of attorney (they had to clear the board members of any wrongdoing in that matter) this vote would have taken place already.

At the head of the table, a spot generally reserved for the CEO, sat a rather smug looking older man named Arthur Claremont. He'd led this movement to unseat the young Miss Luthor. He'd been behind many undermining attempts of her authority in the past, but this was by far his most heavy-handed action. He was calling for a vote of the board, one which could result in the removal of the current CEO and the installment of a new one. Of course, Mr. Radcliff had a name or two at the ready for the new CEO position.

"And I'm telling you, this is obscene!" Ervine Radcliff the III, the youngest board member who had taken over for his father whose health was ailing, said as he stood with one finger stabbing rather dramatically into the table top. "That woman is paralyzed in a hospital bed. It isn't because she was out drinking and partying, and she wrapped her car around a tree. No, she stepped in front of a loaded gun to save someone. She took a bullet for a friend!" He ran his hand through sandy blond hair and sighed rather loudly for not the first time. "Don't we have any common decency?"

"Oh, do sit down, Erve," Mr. Claremont, a portly gray-haired man with a mustache a bit too long for his mouth, said. "This is business, just business. Yes, Miss Luthor's state is quite unfortunate. We'll release a statement saying as much. However, we all must do what's in this business' best interests. I think we can all agree that having someone trying to run this business from a hospital isn't in its best interests."

"Actually, Miss Chin has been doing an admirable job during Miss Luthor's recovery," an elegant black woman, with hair cut fairly close to her scalp, named Mrs. Morris pointed out. Being neither white nor male, she'd never fit in well with the old boys club here. Having a female CEO who was young, brilliant, and progressive was a Godsend in her eye. Seeing Miss Luthor name another young woman to act in her stead, a very capable young woman, just further reinforced the positive opinion that Mrs. Morris had of the CEO.

Several of the board members looked around the table with actual confusion before one of the men asked, "Who?"

"Jessica Chin, acting CEO," Mr. Radcliff responded.

"The secretary?" Mr. Claremont said with a laugh.

"Her title is Executive Assistant to the CEO, not that there's anything wrong with being a secretary. The woman has a degree in business from Stanford. She's been preparing business briefings for Miss Luthor for the past year. I don't know anyone else who could have been up to speed as quickly as Miss Chin," Mrs. Morris said. When her comments were met with eye rolls and snickers, she added, "Does this have anything to do with her abilities or her gender and skin tone? What the hell is this, the set of Madmen?"

"Now, now, Claudia, calm your sweet self down," Mr. Claremont said with his most condescending grin.

"Sweet self? Sweet self!?" Mrs. Morris asked, her voice rising in volume and pitch as she lurched to her feet, leaning on the table and shifting her weight forward.

"Whoa! Hold on now," Mr. Radcliff said, steadying hands on Claudia Morris' shoulders. "Arthur, do you have a good proctologist?" He added, staring seriously at Mr. Radcliff.

"Do I…? What the hell kind of question is that, Erve!?" Mr. Claremont replied.

"You patronize Mrs. Morris like that again, and I'm fairly certain you're going to need one to get her shoe removed from where she shoves it," Erve Radcliff informed the older man.

Claudia was chuckling to herself, smoothing her dress and making her way back to her seat, when the conference room door opened startling all inside.

"This is a closed—!" Spinning his chair at the head of the table to face the door, Mr. Claremont stopped and stared wide-eyed when Lena came in being pushed by her driver, Jess taking up the rear but quickly moving to take a spot on the CEO's left. "Miss…Miss Luthor. What are you doing here?"

"I'd say that's my line, Author," Lena replied without a hint of a smile at the gray-haired man. Turning to Mrs. Morris and Mr. Radcliff she smiled slightly, inclining her head as she said, "Claudia, Erve."

Erve Radcliff was already across the room to where Lena had stopped mid-way. He paused for an awkward moment, but after just a second's hesitation, he grabbed her shoulders and leaned in to press a kiss into her cheek and said, "God, it's good to see you. I hope you brought your whip to beat back the lions. They came for blood today."

Lena smiled up at him as he stepped back. Before she could respond, motion to her right caused her to turn her head.

"Lena Luthor," Claudia Morris said with a shake of her head, looking down at the woman in the wheelchair.

"Claudia Morris," Lena replied, a grin on her lips.

"The rumor mill has you paralyzed in a hospital bed," Claudia informed Lena, then shot a withering look over her shoulder at Mr. Claremont before looking at Lena again.

"Oh does it now?" Lena tutted. "Claudia, you shouldn't be reading tabloids. To quote Mark Twain, 'The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.' Sorry if I disappointed anyone, but only the good die young," Lena added, eying Mr. Claremont again.

Before Mr. Claremont could get a word in, he was distracted by a throat clearing and looked up to see Jess standing nearby, arms crossed. "May I help you Miss…?"

"You're in Miss Luthors' seat," Jess said, arms crossed as she stared down at him, giving him a moment to rectify that situation. When he didn't look to be prepared to do so immediately, she added, "Get. Up."

"Now you listen here, little missy—!"

"Again with the names Arthur!" Claudia said, storming across the boardroom again, Erve trailing with stammering words of peace in her wake.

While the trio argued, Jess stepped away. On a nearby shelf was a book of the rules of order for L-Corp board meetings. She opened it on a side table, flipping through the table of contents until she found what she needed. Finding the section she needed, she located the page and went to the section. The book open and in hand, she walked over to the main table and held the book at shoulder height before dropping it onto the table where it landed with a resounding THUD! All conversation stopped.

Finger on the page, Jess began to read. "Page fifty-seven, Article three, section F of the L-Corp board of director rules of order. 'L-Corps' CEO shall maintain a place on the board of directors and will have equal voting rights of any member. However, as a sign of respect, the head seat at the table shall be reserved for the CEO whether present or absent unless surrendered to another board member. In the absence of the CEO, the interim or acting CEO shall hold the same rights as the CEO, unless surrendered to another to act in their stead. Additionally…' The rest goes into voting which I would hope we don't need to discuss today, but I'll keep the book handy just in case." Jess snapped the book closed, stepping over to Mr. Claremont and said, "As Miss Luthor is out on leave, I'm acting CEO which means you're in my chair. Get. Up. Arthur."

Eyes wide, likely at the term of address, Mr. Claremont began to shake a bit as he sputtered.

Grabbing the back of Mr. Claremont's chair, Lena's driver shifted his weight onto it noticeably as he leaned forward and said, "The lady has asked you twice now, Sir. Get up. Show some class."

After looking around the room and finding no support, Mr. Claremont made his way to the opposite end of the table where he flounced into his chair which groaned under his weight.

"Thank you, Franklin," Jess said as Lena's driver pulled the chair out for her. Placing her hand on the back of the chair she said, "I surrender my seat to Miss Luthor."

Even while Arthur Claremont flustered and grumbled, Lena elegantly said, "Thank you, Miss Chin." As Jess wheeled the leather chair out of the way, and her driver pushed her in, Lena placed her briefcase on the table. She pulled out several thick sheets of paper of identical size, stapled together into sets. On top was one last set of a different thickness, also stapled together. "Now, let's get this meeting into order. I missed the beginning, but your text and IM discussions have gotten me up to speed quite clearly on the nature of this meeting…and where each of you stands on the outcome." She pulled the top set of papers over to sit directly in front of her, not reading them, merely sitting her hand on top of them gently.

"You have no right to read communications made with private accounts," Arthur Claremont declared standing immediately. "This is an invasion of privacy. This is illegal."

Walking over to the bookshelf again, Jess placed a fingertip on one binder as she cleared her throat and said, "Should I pull out the regulations on the use of company equipment and the access that L-Corp has to any communications or creations made on said devices?"

As Arthur stood there with his mouth open, Claudia Morris leaned back in her chair and said, "Oh sit down Arthur. The rules are the rules. Calm your sweet self." Her smile was overly satisfied.

Head turning back and forth, Arthur finally sat as he looked for support among other members of the board. His face red and neck thick he managed to stutter, "This is unacceptable."

"I think we're going to worry about him needing a good cardiologist, not a proctologist," Erve Radcliff muttered.

With a laugh a bit too loud, Claudia turned to him and replied, "Oh, I think he might need both when Lena's through with him."

Clearing her throat and sitting with eyebrow raised until she had the board's attention again, Lena sat stone faced. When order was returned, she gave the slightest inclination of her head. "Attempting a vote in my absence, or in the absence of the acting CEO, is a breach of protocol, to say the least. Beyond that, this is a disastrous move for this company, pushing out a CEO who is recovering from a gunshot wound in the hospital? Did anyone here even run this through PR?" Lena waited, one eyebrow high, as her gaze slowly drifted from person to person sitting across the table.

"We…we thought you were paralyzed. We thought you wouldn't walk again," another man, a little weasely thing named Richard Tooley replied. His hair was brown and thinning, and he wore it in a rather unfortunate comb-over. He also had the unfortunate trait of saying the wrong thing at any moment. Though he'd often requested people call him Richard or Rick, most everyone called him Dick.

"Ugh," Jess said from the side, rolling her eyes so dramatically it was surprising there wasn't an accompanying sound. "And what relevance does that have? She runs a multi-billion dollar technology research and development firm, not a jazzercise class."

"Well…well, the shareholders—"

"Would be in an uproar over this kind of ham-fisted move as we've been trying to tell you," Claudia pointed out. "Not only are you attempting to vote out the most competent CEO that this company has had since…EVER, but you're doing it at the worst possible time. Seriously, do you all work in this company's best interests, or is this some kind of move on behalf of Lord Technologies to try and swoop in and buy up our stock after you submarine the prices." As a stillness settled in a few spots, Claudia slowly pushed her way to her feet again. "Son of a bitch."

"Claudia." Lena motioned toward the woman's chair again.

Glaring around the table one more time, Claudia looked back at Lena before nodding and sitting again.

"So, gentlemen and ladies, here's what we're going to do." Lena tapped at the stapled papers on her right and Jess came by and picked them up then began to walk around and distribute a set to each of the board members. "It's obvious that not everyone here is working in the best interest of L-Corp. I have every intention of doing a very thorough investigation once I've returned to work full time. However, if any of you would like to save me the trouble, I've taken the liberty of drawing up some paperwork for you."

Looking at the sheets of papers that had been dropped, none too gently, in front of him, Mr. Claremont asked, "What are these about?"

"Those will tender your resignation from the board immediately. Simply sign them and leave your badges with security at the front desk. I'd rather not have to send someone to collect them."

"You think you can force us out?" Another board member asked while Arthur nodded on in agreement.

"Force you out? Please. I'm offering you a graceful and gracious exit, one not clouded by what an investigation might unearth. If you have any concern that something might be discovered, or if you just wouldn't want to put yourself and your family through the process, then sit here and sign the paperwork. However, if you're like me, and you're completely committed to us continuing together toward the betterment of this company…"

One foot after the other, Lena snapped the footrest of the chair up. She leaned forward, pressing her hands firmly into the table even as her weight shifted forward. As her body weight came over her center, she pushed up on legs and arms until she stood with her weight pitched toward the front. It looked a bit dramatic as if she were trying to command attention not partially support herself on both arms and legs. In truth, it was a little bit of both.

One eyebrow raised, Lena said, "Then get off your asses and let's get to it."

"You can stand," Arthur Claremont said, his double chin wobbling as his mouth quivered open.

"Since before I was one I'm told, though in truth I don't remember it. So, what's it going to be folks? Are we staying and signing the paperwork, or do we have better things to do with our time?"

The weasely Mr. Tooley began to speak again. "Miss Luthor, we thought you were—"

"Paralyzed!?" Lena's head turned on him, her eyes accusing. "And? So? My mind runs this company, Mr. Tooley, not my legs or even my arms. It so happens it was a very near thing that I was paralyzed, but that would not have interfered with my ability to lead, just yours to follow apparently. We have many disabled employees here who do their jobs admirably, and it sickens me to realize that you, any of you, hold them in any way less capable due to the nature of their disabilities rather than their abilities to perform their job functions. This company judges people on their performance and contributions, not the color of their skin, place of origin, religious belief, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other arbitrary factor unrelated to job performance." Lena's eyes scanned the board members, lingering on a few with fiery pointedness before skimming over others. "This board should represent the best L-Corp has to offer and not the worst as I've read in some of these exchanges between you. I'd hate to see what would happen to this company, or to some of you personally if these communications were to be made public."

"Are you…blackmailing us?"

"Blackmailing?" Lena shook her head as she narrowed her eyes at the man seated at the other end of the table. "What do you take me for, Arthur? Blackmail is illegal. I'm threatening you. A copy of these communications will be kept in the board records as should all communications regarding L-Corp business between board members. In the meantime, I'll give you two opportunities. You can get up and walk out of here right now, and we can try to find a way to work toward a unified goal, or you can sign that paperwork in front of you right now. Honestly, I don't care which you do. I only care that you decide right now and get on with it. I have a job to do as CEO, and that's to look at our employees and ask, 'Can you do this job to help L-Corp be a successful leader in the industry, and how can we support you to that end?' If you're not on board with that, get the hell out."

Leaning toward Mrs. Morris again, Mr. Radcliff whispered, "You were right about the proctologist."

Claudia nodded vigorously in agreement. Pushing to her feet, she said, "I'm on board, Miss Luthor. So, is the meeting adjourned?"

"I believe so, yes," Lena agreed. "The only reason for this meeting was regarding my replacement, and that's been settled, now hasn't it?"

"It certainly has," Erve Radcliff said, also standing. "What about you, Dick. Are you planning to step down, or are you ready to leave?"

"I…I…it's Rick," Mr. Tooley said as he stood. "I…I'm…" He swallowed hard, withering and nodding under Lena's glare as he grabbed his briefcase and stepped toward the door.

Slowly, member by member moved to leave, some with more enthusiasm than others. Finally, only Claudia and Erve lingered in the exit, and Arthur sat in the chair at the opposite end as if rooted in place.

"You won't get rid of me this easily," Arthur said. "I'll have you know—" when a pen came to a skittering halt at the papers in front of him, he looked up to see who tossed it his way.

"I assumed your pen was out of ink," Jess explained. "Miss Luthor was very clear in her expectations. Since you aren't leaving, you must be signing."

"I…" With a harrumph, an actual harrumph, Arthur Claremont lifted his considerable mass and stormed out of the room. On the way past Lena, he said, "We're not done with each other!"

"Promises, promises," Lena murmured.

Following him to the exit, Jess spoke briefly with Erve and Claudia. She used kind words, knowing on what side of the debate they'd been, then ushered them away saying, "Miss Luthor will connect with you soon, but she has to prepare for her next meeting now." Closing and locking the door, Jess turned and said, "It's safe now. Everyone's gone, and the door is locked."

Reaching behind her with one hand, Lena twisted slightly as she grabbed for the handle of her wheelchair. She latched onto it, trying to let herself down into the seat gently but not quite managing it as softly as intended. Her driver, Franklin, grabbed the back of the chair to hold it even though it was locked in place.

Rushing to Lena's side, Jess asked, "Are you all right, Miss Luthor?"

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You're sweating," Jess noted, seeing a fine line trickle down from her employer's temple. "Let me get you water."

While Jess rushed off and came back with a glass of water from the nearby bar, Lena dabbed at her cheek with the back of her hand. It came back covered in a fine sheen of moisture. "No, I'm not. Luthors don't sweat." There were several heartbeats of silence before she took the water and added, "They perspire."

Unable to contain her smile, Jess said, "Of course. My mistake, Miss Luthor. It won't happen again. Should I have your car brought around?" Jess looked over at Franklin.

"Not quite yet," Lena replied. "Just give me another five minutes to rest before I need to head out to my next meeting."

"There really is a next meeting? I thought that was just for the show."

"Unfortunately not. Miles to go until I rest and all that," Lena quipped taking a sip of her water.

"You're overdoing it."

"Hmmm." Lena nodded in agreement. "No doubt, but just for today. Later this afternoon I'll be back in my room, lazing around and leaving you to run things in my stead."

"You mean on the phone and emailing constantly?" Jess replied. "Try that line with someone who isn't copied on your emails. You need to rest to heal."

Instead of arguing, Lena said, "You know Jess, Arthur is the most difficult of the board and you handled him wonderfully. If I weren't able to return to my duties, I'd absolutely recommend you for my replacement."

Gasping, Jess took a staggering step back as she said, "Miss Luthor, I have been very good to you. Do not threaten me like that."

With a laugh, Lena said, "Oh, Jess, you really are my favorite."

Lena's home was a modest seven bedroom home with a full bath off each bedroom and four half bathrooms. It was on the outskirts of National City and rested on twenty-two acres. It had two pools, one indoors and one outdoors. Five of the bedrooms were upstairs, and two of them were downstairs. It had a dining room, a formal dining room, a living room, a den, a library, a billiard room, and a great room. If she decided to make use of the second story, or go down to the finished basement, she could use the elevator for this purpose. There was a six car garage with the main house. Additionally, there was a much smaller two-story guest house which was separate from the main house. It had three bedrooms, one master and two smallish ones (by Luthor standings) and a two car garage. It had gone to Lena when Lex went to prison, though she'd done nothing more than the original walk through and the occasional bit of entertaining here. Her penthouse was where she lived. This was for…other purposes.

Her car drove around the curved driveway, past the fountain in front of the house. She waited again until her wheelchair was unloaded and her door was opened. She thanked Franklin as she got herself into her chair, eyeing the ramp which was a new addition to her west coast family home. Though long, it looked rather steep. She was sure it wasn't as Jess had been in charge of all of the construction and would have made sure it was no more than an 8.3% grade as was appropriate for a hand-propelled chair. The ramp sat parallel to the front door. Then there was a flat area where she could turn, and then another ramp. There were hand holds the whole way. At the top, it was flat again where she would be able to enter the home.

"Miss Luthor, would you like me to…?"

Lena shook her head. "No thank you, Franklin. Please wait out here. I'll be fine."

"You're sure."

"Aren't I always?" Lena thought she sounded much surer than she felt.

The way up the ramp wasn't actually as tedious and difficult as she thought it would be. She was glad there was a platform in between and that she'd had practice turning so many times in the hospital. She rotated, pushing forward on one wheel and back on the other which made perfect sense to her engineer brain, and her chair was facing the next ramp. Once up that she was on the top platform and then to the front door.

The front door was heavy, and a bit tricky, but Lena managed it and felt quite satisfied by the time she entered the foyer. It was hardwood there, and she rolled easily into the living room, slowing nearly to a stop on the thick carpeting as she called out, "Hi, honey, I'm home!"

The living room was spacious with sliders to the front of the house allowing in ample lighting. Near the sliders, there was a cabinet built into a wall with a set-in TV that took much of that wall, though it hadn't been turned on since the youngest Luthor had been in residence. The carpeting was oatmeal in color and a thickness Lena had always enjoyed when walking around barefooted but was now realizing had its downside. There was a dark brown sectional couch, seating for four on one area and three on the other, along with two arm chairs in the room which were a material that matched the throw pillows on the couch. Behind the couch was a bar, and a bit further was the entryway to the kitchen.

The second floor was visible, dark-wooden railings setting off the crème colored walls. There were several pieces of modern art, all no doubt originals and expensive, hung about, and down one wall was a display of lights and stone that was two stories high and about eight feet across. It was barred off at the bottom with water at its base, and when turned on it became a waterfall. On the side of the wall opposite that was the fireplace. Though expensive, the house had been described as lavish and recherché in the most recent magazine to do a spread on it before Lex's unfortunate downward spiral, but the truth was that Lena hadn't touched a thing in it since she'd inherited it. Like the rest of Lena Luthor's life, this home was decorated in someone else's decisions.

Upon hearing Lena's voice, an answering laugh came from the kitchen, followed soon after by Maggie Sawyer striding out with a glass of orange juice in hand. "Well, look what the cat dragged in. You look…actually, you look hot. I didn't realize there was a dress code on this little get together. I feel decidedly underdressed." Bending over, she kissed Lena on the cheek, cupping the other younger woman's face on the other side. Eyes soft, Maggie frowned slightly. "How are you, though? You gave us quite a scare there, kid."

"I'm fine. I'm healing. Your face though. Look at…" Tugging at Maggie's arm, Lena said, "Get down here where I can see you properly. I spend my days looking up at everyone. It gives me such a crick in my neck."

Kneeling, Maggie put her juice on the table. "Hey, welcome to my world. It isn't easy being vertically challenged, is it?"

"Always with the jokes, Detectives." Lena ran her fingers carefully along Maggie's face, tracing the bruising on the skull and then the break in the nose. "Did you get the name of the plastic surgeon I sent you?"

"Yeah, but I don't need a—"

"Nonsense, Maggie. This isn't just swelling, is it? The bone here is displaced. You'll need to have it repaired, and Dr. Waraich is the best on the west coast. Just approve having your scans sent over to him, and his office will be in touch with you."

"Hey, a little bump in my nose won't kill me. Anyway, it will give me character. Some chicks dig scars." Maggie grinned, showing her dimples.

"This is not like the knife wound along your ribs, Maggie. This is your face, your lovely face. We're getting it properly taken care of."

"We're?" Maggie asked, stiffening under the other woman's touch.

With an eye roll, Lena dropped her hand. "You know what I mean."

"You know I already have a girlfriend," Maggie said as she stood, retrieving her juice from the table. "I don't need two of you mothering me."

"Apparently you do," Lena countered, wheeling after Maggie who headed back to the kitchen. "You don't take very good care of yourself."

"At least I eat right."

"I eat fine," Lena replied, still making her way through the living room, struggling a bit with the plush carpeting that seemed unwilling to release the wheels of her chair.

"Stress is not one of the four food groups," Maggie countered.

When Lena finally reached the tiled floor of the kitchen, she was grateful to finally be able to wheel freely again. The tile in here was nearly as light as the living room carpeting, just a shade darker than the cabinets. There was a massive center island that was L-shaped, and in the cut out was a partial circle with chairs set up for eating. All of the appliances were stainless steel, high end of course. Lena was a bit annoyed but unsurprised to see food laid out across the island. There was a pitcher of juice that was visible, what looked to be some melons, berries, though her vantage point made those difficult to see clearly, and a container covered in tinfoil.

"What's all this?"

"Breakfast," Maggie replied, cutting up some melon and putting it into a bowl with practiced ease.

"I already ate."

"And I already told you stress doesn't count, well, stress and black coffee." Pausing in her slicing, Maggie pointed with the knife as she said, "Honestly, Little Luthor, you need to start taking better care of yourself. This one was way the fuck too close. You freaked me out, do you get that?"

"Well, I—"

"No, I'm serious. I was out of the country, so I couldn't pull strings and get assigned to your case. If it hadn't been for Kara, I wouldn't have even been able to get into the room to see you. How do you think that made me feel?"

Crossing her arms, Lena stared up at the other woman and replied, "You do realize I was in a coma, don't you?"

"That's why I was so worried!" Maggie exclaimed, stabbing the knife into the knife block where it trembled in place. "Kara was freaking out over you; Alex was comforting her, and I had to be the supportive girlfriend to Alex. I came home from this new task force one day, and Kara was there. I was so done. I just wanted to curl up with Alex, get some comfort, and not hear about how concerned Kara was. She'd known you for less than a year, had been your friend for less than that, and suddenly it was all about her feelings. It wasn't fair."

"Maggie I…I'm sorry."

"I should have been on your list," Maggie continued.

"My list?" Lena asked, head tilted to the side.

Nodding, Maggie clarified, "At the hospital, your visitor's list. I should have been on that."

Eye brows raised, Lena replied, "You wanted me to put you on my 'family only' visitor's list? Really, Maggie? How would your girlfriend have reacted to that?"

"Uh…poorly," Maggie admitted.

"Poorly?" With a little smirk, Lena shook her head. "Maggie, darling, we both know Alexandra Danvers, you better than I. As someone who's been shot recently, let me give you some advice. Poorly hurts like a son of a bitch."

Maggie snorted. "I love it when you curse, Little Luthor. You're so prim and proper…until you're not."

"And you, darling, play at guttural with the best of them, but dressed up appropriately, you make a lovely lady." Lena grinned at the cop. "No, Alex Danvers has had people investigating me, surveilling me, breaking into my firewall to read secure documents, from the time I arrived in this city. I've dealt with government agent types like her my whole life. She's seen me as little more than a last name since I arrived. Lex hurt Superman; ergo I will hurt Supergirl. I understand her defensive streak. Really, I envy Kara having a sister who is willing to do so much for her."

"Hey, you know—"

"It doesn't take the sting out of my situation, or make my relationship with the elder Danvers sister any more bearable. You understand that, don't you, Maggie?"

Sighing, Maggie nodded. "You know we're going to have to come clean at some point, don't you? I'm kind of surprised we haven't been caught yet. At first, I was sure that Alex would just somehow know I was hiding something from her. Over time though…"

"It gets easier," Lena noted. "You don't need to look surprised. I'm a Luthor, and lying and deception come as easily to us as wandering through a fundraiser with a champagne flute in our hand. Actually, those may be one in the same."

"Hey, you're the good Luthor. I knew that the moment I met you. Lex was charming, much more so than you mom, but like her, there was always something off about him. You held yourself back from them even when you were standing right next to them. It was almost painful to watch. At the time I thought it was because you were tribe and you weren't out, but apparently, that wasn't it. It was because you were a decent person. Even if you didn't get it, you felt it, like prey around a pack of predators."

Lena held Maggie's gaze for several moments before rolling her eyes and replying, "Ugh, I refuse to be referred to as prey even if you mean it as a compliment, Detective. I wouldn't be a Luthor if I let you get away with that."

"Tell you what," Maggie said, smile bright and eyes twinkling. "I'll drop it if you eat some of this fruit for me."

"I'll tell you what. I'll eat some of that fruit if you agree to let Dr. Waraich look at your scans," Lena countered.

"Oh, so now we've entered the negotiation stage of breakfast. I didn't realize that was on the menu."

"Maggie, darling, you're dining with a Luthor. Negotiation is always on the menu," Lena pointed out. "So, what are we having for breakfast?"

"You're eating, no more fuss?"

"Of course," Lena replied. "You'll be sending your scans to the good doctor, or should I just have your girlfriend break into your hospital records and send those over on your behalf?" When Maggie just stared, open-mouthed, Lena said, "I'm sorry. Too soon?"

Arm resting on the island, Maggie broke down into peals of laughter. Finally catching her breath, she said, "Oh, oh that was good, Little Luthor. Man, you pissed off Alex when you dragged her into the lawyer, but poor Winn just about pissed himself. Do you know he actually asked James if he'd make a good prison wife?"

"Hmmm…I've never seen the two of them together before this week, but the way Kara speaks about them I did wonder. I'm not judging, of course."

That set off Maggie laughing again. "Okay, okay, you win. I'll send over my scans. I'm not saying I'm getting a nose job or anything, but he can look at my x-rays, okay?"

"That's all I'm asking."

Putting fruit into a bowl, Maggie replied, "Bullshit. That was just stage one of the negotiation. You'll hold something else over my head eventually. By the time this is done I'll probably end up getting a boob job too."

"Well, I didn't want to say anything but—" When Maggie pointed with the knife again, this time in a more threatening way, Lena added, "They're lovely, perfect, don't change a thing."

"Better." Putting two bowls of fruit on the table side of the island, Maggie poured a second glass of juice and topped hers off. On a small plate for each of them, a muffin was added. She pulled out a chair so Lena could pull her chair in.

"Wait, are these your banana nut muffins?" Lena asked, examining the food that had been removed from under the foil.

"They are. I'm stuck home for a while, so I figure I should do some baking. I have Alex stopping in to buy me more supplies after she's done at work today. I asked her to text me when she gets to the grocery store in case I need to add anything else to the list."

"You're so clever." Lena took a bite from the muffin and hummed with joy, a smile on her lips. "I don't think you've made these for me since I've been in National City. For future purposes, you can quicken the negotiations with your baked goods."

"I'll keep that in mind." Maggie took a seat next to the youngest of the Luthor clan and held up a glass as she said, "To our continued partnership."

"Hear, hear," Lena clinked their glasses together before they both drank. "Mmmm good juice, but you know what would be better?"

"I'm pretty sure you're not cleared to drink yet."

"I'm pretty sure you're not a doctor," Lena countered.

With a grin, Maggie said, "I'm pretty sure I've spent more time playing doctor than folks spend in medical school, so that makes me qualified. Now eat your fruit. You'll need your energy. We've only got a few hours, so we've got to be quick today."

"Heh, if I had a dollar for every girl who told me that."

"That's not how you amassed your wealth, Luthor?"

"…ouch."

Laughing to herself while she stabbed some fruit, Maggie chewed on some honeydew and said, "Hey, I have a question, but it's a bit personal. You up for that?"

"Between us?" Lena shrugged, taking dainty bites of her food.

"It's about Kara, you and Kara specifically. So—"

"Topic change."

"No, no, no, no, no. See, I'm dating Alex, the elder Danvers sister who is super-hot and sexy. The sex is great," Maggie said with a grin. "However, Little Danvers is both super and hot. So what I want to know is—"

"Topic change!"


	34. 34-Feeling Riz

Stepping through the door into the children's ward at the hospital, Supergirl squared her shoulders and pushed a smile onto her face. She'd been making visits here twice a week since the first time the nurses had caught up with her outside of Lena's room and asked her to visit the children. It was hardly her first time visiting children in the hospital. Instilling hope was as much a part of being Supergirl as was stopping crime and protecting National City from rogue aliens. Still, she knew the smile on her face was plastered to her lips and hadn't found its way to her eyes yet. Some of the kids she'd met here had grown up in the hospital, having spent more time in this facility than in their own homes. They knew all of the nurses and doctors in the pediatric area by name and didn't even react to needles anymore.

Though her mood felt heavy when her boots first fell upon the floor, as her gaze met that of child after child, eyes lighting up and optimism spreading on the trail of her name, her spirits quickly lifted. Her lackluster smile broadened into sincerity at the many calls of her name, and a certain lightness came back to her step. Children clambered all around her, each anxious for the hero's attention. Apparently, their enthusiasm was infectious, and soon Supergirl was laughing even as she lifted a child into her arms. Child after child, she made tiny circuits through the air around a section of the room with a small passenger in her arms. Arms held out to their sides, the child would fly around the room truly weightless and unburdened for a just a few moments, no longer surrounded by things that should never touch a child's life.

At one point, Supergirl touched down to hear a familiar voice say, "Supergirl!"

Smiling, she placed the child she was holding down and lifted the girl bouncing with glee. "Emily! You're looking great."

"I'm feeling great," Emily replied, wrapping her arms around the hero's neck before leaning back again. "Look, no IVs."

"I see that," Supergirl said, examining the arms that were held out in front of her. "Ready to go on your maiden voyage?"

"I'd love that!" Emily replied enthusiastically. "Wait, this doesn't count as my flight, does it? You promised me a real flight."

Laughing, Super girl said, "In-hospital flights never count, promise. Here we go."

Lifting off slowly, Supergirl leveled her body, leaning back until Emily lay face down on top of her. Eyes sparkling and wide open, Emily's breathing ticked up slightly as did her heart rate. None were a matter of concern though. The hero kept an ear on them to make certain of that. The girl stretched her arms out to the side, toes perched in place for balance even as the hero's hands on her sides steadied her.

Smiling at the happy passenger, Supergirl's gaze flicked for only a moment to the Supergirl motif bandana covering Emily's head before the hero's head leaned back so her vision could take in her flight path as she said, "Ermmm, ladies and gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking. Please note the fasten seat felt light has not has not been turned off. You are not yet free to move about the cabin. Current weather: light winds, a few scattered clouds, temperature about eighty-seven degrees. We're ascending over National City and will be cruising at 30,000 feet. If you look over your right shoulder, you'll see the CatCo Worldwide Media building down below, run by media icon, Cat Grant." Supergirl continued forward for a few seconds, then turned left as she neared the wall. "If you looked out the window to your right you'll see the L-Corp building below us, run by one of National City's resident heroes, Lena Luthor." Kara continued forward until she neared the other wall and then banked for her turn. "Ladies and gentlemen, we'll be experiencing some turbulence. It shouldn't last more than ten or fifteen seconds. Again, please remain in your seats." Looking up at Emily, Supergirl smiled as she made noises, puffing up her cheeks and wiggling back and forth slightly with mock turbulence. As the girl's smile only grew, Supergirl leaned her head back again to watch their progress across the room. As they grew closer to the wall again, she calmed and began to turn. "Ladies and gentlemen, we'll now begin our descent. On behalf of the entire crew, we hope you've enjoyed your flight. Have a wonderful stay here, or wherever your final destination is, and thank you for flying Air Supergirl." Slowly she turned, so they were head up, wrapping her arms around Emily, and lowered first herself and then the child to the ground. "You didn't leave anything in the cabin, did you?"

Arms on hips, Emily replied, "Do you want me to frisk you?"

Holding her hands up to shoulder level, Supergirl laughed. "I'm unarmed. Did you have fun?"

"Yes!" Emily replied, making a half leap at the superhero and getting dragged into a hug. "Thank you so much. I can't wait to do that again."

Chuckling, Supergirl said, "Well, after everyone else has a turn, anyone who is up for it can have a round two. I just want to make sure I get to visit with the kids who are up for coming over here to see me, okay?"

Nodding, Emily put a hand on either side of Supergirl's face. "Thank you."

"Oh, don't worry about it. That little flight was—"

"No, thank you."

As the little girl just stared at her, nodding slowly, Supergirl felt warmth in the back of her eyes. She looked up fighting back the threat of tears. She wouldn't cry. If they didn't cry; she wouldn't cry. The least she could manage was to be as brave as these children. After just a few seconds, and feeling more in control, Supergirl looked at Emily again and nodded. Words would be too much right now, but a smile and a nod she could manage.

As she placed Emily on the ground and the child stepped back, Supergirl cleared her throat and took a cleansing breath asking, "Who's next?"

"Me! Me! Me!" A half dozen excited voices replied.

Laughing, the hero placed her hands on her hips, rocking back and forth as she said, "Okay, okay, one at a time. Everyone will get a turn to fly Air Supergirl. Let's see your boarding passes."

The response of waving hands and claims of having theirs just brought more chuckles before she plucked her next passenger from the group and lifted off to cruise the skies of National City.

At a knock on her door, Lena looked up from her computer, pulling her glasses from her face. "Yes?"

The door opened, and Jake popped just his head and shoulders in, smiling awkwardly. "Uh, Miss Luthor, there's a…um…"

Lena waited, tapping a finger against her table, but the nurse just stood there with the same uncomfortable smile on his face. Finally, she said, "Jake, if you're waiting for my mind reading powers to kick in, so I know what you want to tell me, we'll both be waiting here indefinitely. What's going on?"

With a little laugh, he replied, "Right, sorry. You've got a visitor."

"A visitor. I'm not accepting visitors. I'm assuming this isn't Kara, of course."

"Noooo, definitely not. This is…maybe you could make an exception?"

Tapping at her lips with the stem of her glasses, Lena replied, "Jake, you know me. Am I kind of woman who makes exceptions?"

Pointing he replied, "Generally no, but some rules are made to be broken, right?"

Eyes narrowed, Lena asked, "What the hell is going on, Jake?"

"Will you just talk to her?"

"Her? Her who?" Lena asked, stiffing noticeably.

"She's with security," Jake replied, backing up and motioning for Lena to follow as he pushed the door open. "We asked her to stay there, and she said she would…thankfully."

As she pushed the table out of the way, leaving her reading glasses on it, and wheeled herself forward, Lena asked, "Who said she would…oh."

Pushing off the nurse's station and smiling at the sight of the woman in the wheelchair, Supergirl waved and smiled. "Lena! Hey!"

"What is she doing here?"

Jake shrugged. "She said she wanted to talk to you. We told her no visitors but…she's frigging Supergirl. I mean, it's not like security can stop her if she doesn't want to stop."

"I suppose." Lena waved toward herself, loudly saying to her security people, "Please let Supergirl through."

Smiling, Supergirl looked back over her shoulder as she headed toward Lena. "It was great meeting you guys. Maybe I'll see you again soon." As she entered the room, after giving Jake a brief wave, she closed the door behind her.

"What are you doing here?" Lena whispered.

"Visiting you?" Supergirl whispered back, a smile on her face. She listened for a second, then shrugged. "Jake walked away. No one is listening."

"Honestly, Kara, why are you here like…" Lena waved a hand up and down in front of Kara's body.

"P.R.?" Kara replied with a shrug, then leaned forward, a hand on either of the arms of Lena's wheelchair. "I was visiting the children's ward, and now I'm visiting my very good friend, Lena Luthor, while she recovers. Want to see how friendly we are?"

Putting her hand on Supergirl's shoulder, Lena managed to push herself backward when she tried to shove the blonde back. "Honestly, Miss Danvers, you are trouble."

"I've been called worse," Supergirl said, walking around the room a bit. "You have a date yet for when you're getting out of here?"

"An exact date, no, but it could be in the next week or two."

"Really?" Supergirl spun, flashing back to Lena. "Honey, that's amazing. You're doing that well?"

"I am. I'll still have in home nursing for a bit, but—"

"And me, you'll have me. You'll have me, Lena."

This time, when Supergirl leaned in to kiss her, Lena wound her arms around the blonde's neck and pulled the hero closer. When the kiss ended, they were both smiled into it.

"So I'm P.R., am I?" Lena asked with a chuckle, as Supergirl stepped away.

"Actually, you just might be. You were shot by a gang member while saving the life of an upstanding citizen of National City." Supergirl smiled again and pointed at herself. "Since then, my reputation has taken a bit of a nose dive while yours has only risen."

"Ah, so getting shot, nearly dying, perhaps almost not walking again if I survived, that all worked out for me? Perhaps I'm up a half point in the polls," Lena quipped.

"Maybe a whole point," Supergirl joked back.

With an eye roll, Lena replied, "Well, had a known that I wouldn't have let you sister stop Mr. Corben from shooting me when I first came to National City a year ago. Leave it to Alex Danvers to sabotage my reputation."

"Oh, so next time you want Alex to let you get shot?"

Instead of replying, Lena looked at the time on her laptop and said, "So, since I'm doing you a favor by allowing you to be seen in my presence, want to be me a favor in return?"

"Sure. Is it a kissing favor? Those are my favorite kinds." Supergirl leaned in again, puckering up.

With a hearty laugh, Lena gently pushed Supergirl's face to the side. "Not at this moment, though afterward, I would very much like to take you up on that."

"Well okay then. What's this favor so we can get to 'afterward'?"

"Get me my phone, won't you, darling?" Lena said, gesturing to the night table near the head of her bed.

Grabbing the phone, Supergirl brought it back and asked, "Who are we calling? We're calling someone, right?"

Unlocking the phone, Lena paused with her finger above the keypad. "Who do you think? That is if you're okay with it."

"Oh! I mean, do you want to tell her…?"

"Oh, good Lord no, Kara. I mean, no offense, but that's just dangerous, don't you think? Do you want to tell her…?"

Supergirl shook her head. "No. She's great, but I'm already supposed to talk to you about an NDA and…erm…that won't be a problem, will it?"

"Well, I'll have to have the actual document reviewed by my lawyers, but I don't expect it will be. So long as the language is relatively standard, we should be fine. I'm sure your people and my people will fight about the use of the word 'and' instead of 'or' for a few weeks, and then we'll have something on which all parties can agree." Holding up the phone, Lena said, "So, ready to say hello to a fan?"

"Is she really a fan?" Supergirl asked with a grin.

"Ugh, groupie is more like it. You should have heard her when I told her we met for the first time. Uh…I left out the fact that Lex was trying to kill me, so I'd appreciate it if you could do so. She reads enough that she knows, but we don't discuss these things directly. Oh, and that article your write where you quoted Supergirl saying something nice about me." Lena shook her head. "She talked so quickly, and for so long, I honestly was concerned she might just pass out."

Kara laughed. "Just call her. I'm anxious to meet her…again."

Lena dialed the number, then paused before dialing the code to allow for the call to go through. "One thing, whatever you do, don't tell her what you told me about being bioengineered on Krypton for science, all right?"

Kara nodded, brows pressed together, but asked, "Why not?"

Entering the code to complete the call, Lena said, "Because I'm her favorite. Soon she'll be a teenager, and she won't be able to stand me. I'll be able to do no right in her eyes. I'm not losing my number one person status to you just because you're a—"

"Mom?"

"Hi, darling!" Lena smiled brightly, waving at the phone. "Did I interrupt anything?"

"No. Is everything…? I mean, to what do I owe the pleasure of this call, oh mother of mine?" Lori asked, leaning on the palm of her hand as she grinned at the screen.

Lena chuckled. "Well done. Actually, I wanted to introduce you to someone if you've got a moment."

"You want to…to someone else? You want to introduce me to a second real someone that you know, like another live human being?" Lori asked, sitting up straight in her chair.

"Errr…partially accurate. I'd like to introduce you to another friend of mine if you'd like to meet her."

"This isn't a second secret girlfriend, is it?" Lena asked dryly.

Lena flinched, then said, "You'll regret having such a smart mouth in a minute young lady. Are you ready?"

"Sure? Introduce us. What's her name?"

"Oh, you'll recognize her," Lena said with a smirk as she turned the phone around.

"Hi, Lori," Supergirl said with a bright smile and a wave. "It's nice to meet you, finally, though I just found out about you a little bit ago. How are you?"

"You're…You're…" Wide-eyed, Lori leaned back in her chair. She was pointing at the screen, and the erratic nature of her breathing was visible even through the small screen. "You're SuperAHHHH!" Tipping over backward, Lori's legs suddenly were all that were visible as her chair tipped and then the screen went black.

"Lori?" Supergirl said to the blank screen. "Lori?"

Lena turned the phone toward herself, checking the connection. "She hung up?"

"Uh…I think she kind of fell over. Maybe she hit her computer," Supergirl replied. "Sorry?"

Lena sighed. "Of course she did."

"Do you think she's okay?"

"She's eleven. Humans still bounce at this age. She's fine. Lori's probably rubbing her dignity and righting her chair, but she's fine," Lena assured the hero.

"Oh, okay. So, should we call her or…?"

Shaking her head, Lena replied, "She'll call us as soon as—" When Lena's iPad signaled an incoming facetime request, the CEO lifted it and said, "Ah, the proverbial offspring. Take two." Answering, she smiled at her daughter and said, "Oh, you weren't done?"

"Mom! Mom, I fell and…That's really her, right?"

"Hmmm? Really who?"

Pointing at the screen, Lori leaned close and said, "Mother, do not push me! That was Supergirl. I saw Supergirl."

"Oh, yes that was Supergirl, but after you hung up she left because—"

"Ahem." Clearing her throat, Supergirl held out her hand. "Don't tease the girl, Ms. Luthor. That isn't kind."

"I hear her! That's Supergirl! Where is she!? Show her to me!"

"Fine, but you ruin all my fun," Lena said, handing over the iPad.

"Hi, Lori," Supergirl said smiling as the girl's face came into view. "Are you all right? That looked like a nasty fall."

"Oh, my God! You're Supergirl!" Lori hopped up and down in her chair but didn't lean backward this time. "You are! You are! You are Supergirl!"

"Every day." Supergirl sat on the side of the bed, glancing at Lena who grabbed her glasses and began working again. "So, how's school?"

"Uh…great! School is great. How's…uh, being a superhero?"

"That's great too. You know, I fly around, save people, fight some bad guys, pretty much same old same old. It's certainly not as exciting as the…I actually don't know what grade you're in, to be honest."

Lori nodded quickly without saying anything for several seconds before she swallowed hard and answered. "Oh, we, uh, we don't actually have a strict grade structure here. As long as we can do the work, we can take the classes. I've tested into high school for next semester though, so I'll be a freshman."

"A freshmen at…twelve?" Supergirl asked.

Lori nodded with a bright smile and bounced once in her chair. "I should be able to finish up high school in three years. That's right on track."

"Three years is right on track? Competing with someone in particular?" Supergirl asked, glancing over at Lena again.

Lena quirked an eyebrow but was otherwise unresponsive.

"Myself, really. Not everybody can be an astronaut you know. I've got my eye on a few good aerospace engineering programs. You know, space, the final…" She closed her eyes and spoke quietly to herself. "Remember who you're speaking to, Lori."

"Hey, Lori, relax. I'm just a friend of your mom. Treat me like any friend of your mom, okay?"

Biting at her lower lip, Lori shrugged. "Well, I've only met you and…one other person so far. She's cool, but you're the one who can fly so…sorry, I guess I'm a little excited."

"I get it. I've been your age. I understand," Supergirl said with a kindly smile. "Hey, if I can put in a good word to help with school, maybe write you a recommendation letter, let me know."

"Really? You'd do that?"

"Sure. Your mom has come through for me a few times, for all of the aliens here in National City. I probably owe her a few thousand times over. I even know some folks who might be able to help, like Olivia Marsdin."

"President Olivia Marsdin?"

Supergirl nodded.

Lori whistled, long and shrill. "Wow, go big or go home, huh? Oh, really Agnes, your uncle in the UN is going to write you a recommendation letter? I've only got ones from the President of the United States and a space alien who's saved the world, but I'm sure yours is just as good." Lori laughed, rubbing her hands together. "Oh, I'd love that. Agnes is sooooo snobby."

"Well, just let me know what—"

Clearing her throat, Lena said, "Lorelai, you can get in on your own merits."

"…yes, Mom," Lori said with an eye roll. Then she grabbed a notebook and a pen from her desk. Holding them up to the screen, she mimed writing something out while she grinned.

Supergirl tried valiantly to control her smile, glancing briefly over at Lena to make sure they weren't being observed. "So, favorite subject in school?"

"Science!" Lori replied with a bounce as she dropped the notebook and pen on her desk. "I really love science. How about you?"

"I'm not in school anymore."

"How about when you were? They had school on Krypton, right?"

"Yes, we had lots of school on Krypton," Supergirl replied with a slow nod. "Well, I really liked science too. I…" She looked over at Lena who was staring at her. "My mother was a lawyer."

"O-kay. So, did you take any law classes?" Lori asked.

"No, I wasn't old enough for that when I left Krypton. The guild I was in was…uh…" Supergirl kept glancing back and forth between mother and daughter.

"What are you doing?" Lori asked. "My mom's doing something, isn't she? Mom, what are you up to?"

"Nothing," Lena said, but she continued to stare as Supergirl.

"Bull…stuff. You're up to something."

Holding out her hand, Lena took the iPad that Supergirl handed over, "Of course I am, Lorelai. It's all a vast grown-up conspiracy, and you're at the center of it. It used just to be your teachers and me, but now I've involved an alien superhero in this connivance."

One eyebrow raised in a very Luthoresque way, Lori dryly stated, "Mother, sarcasm does not suit you."

Laughing, Supergirl came to kneel behind Lena so she could look at Lori also. "Okay, you two are adorable together. This mother/daughter thing, it works."

"Yeah, we're finally getting the hang of it after eleven years," Lori said with a grin.

"Lorelai, don't say yeah."

"Okay, that I could do without," Lori said.

"You know she just wants the best for you, don't you?" Supergirl asked.

" **Yes** , I know."

"Sarcasm doesn't suit you either, young lady," Lena replied.

"I don't know. I think I wear it rather well."

Laughing again, Supergirl said, "Oh, Miss Luthor, she's definitely your daughter. You're a lucky woman."

"I am rather, aren't I?" Lena replied, smiling at her daughter and then glancing over her shoulder. "I think I'll keep her unless you'd like to make me an offer."

Hands held up, Supergirl replied, "Hey, I've got a pretty good idea of your price range. I don't think I can afford her. This super hero business is really a not-for-profit gig."

"You never know until you try," Lena said with a smirk. "Make me an offer. Let's negotiate."

"Gee thanks, Mom." Lori shook her head, but she was smiling at the adults. "So, is um…? Is, you know who coming by today?"

"You mean Kara?" Lena asked. At the look of surprise on Lori's face, she added, "Supergirl knows all about my relationship with Kara. Anything you'd say in front of Kara, you can say in front of Supergirl."

"Oh, sweet. I didn't know that Supergirl would…I mean, of course, she's trustworthy. She's Supergirl. You're Supergirl."

"Kara is a friend of mine too," Supergirl said with a smile. "I happen to know for a fact that Kara is very fond of your mother. I'm happy for them both."

"Right, I read some of Kara's interviews now, and she quotes you so…" Looking back and forth, Lori bit at her lip before asking, "Mom, don't you have some work to do?"

"Well, I do home some spread sheets to—"

"Those, do those," Lori said quickly to her mother before pointing at the hero. "Supergirl and I can chat so you can get back to work."

Eyes narrowed, the elder Luthor asked, "What are you up to, child?"

"Me?" A hand to her chest, Lori shook her head. "What do you mean?"

"I am no more buying that act than I am buying a bridge from you."

"Oh relax, Mother. I just want to chat with Supergirl some more. Go do your boring old spread sheets. Make some more money so I can spend it all after I put you in a rest home."

Snorting, Lena handed over the iPad to Supergirl. "Now that I believe. You two enjoy your discussion. Good luck with her, Supergirl."

"Uh…thanks?" The hero said as she stood up. "So, Lori, what do you—"

The girl waved her hand to the side and then pointed behind Supergirl.

The hero turned to look over her shoulder, then pointed to the far corner of the room, checking with the child to see if that was what was being indicated.

Lori nodded, smiling brightly, then held up two thumbs.

With a smile, Supergirl bopped her way over to the far corner of the room. "Okay, is this what you wanted?"

"Yes," Lori whispered. "I wanted to talk privately. She can't hear me, right?"

"Do you mean your—?"

"Shhh." Lori waved her hands at the screen. "Keep your voice down."

"Sorry," Supergirl whispered and continued to speak in hushed tones, looking over to see if Lena reacted. "Do you mean your mom?"

Lori nodded.

Supergirl glanced back and forth between mother and daughter, but the elder Luthor didn't react. Shrugging, the hero quietly said to Lori, "She doesn't seem to hear us. Why are we whispering?"

"I want to ask you about Kara."

"Oh." Supergirl nodded. "What about her?"

"She seems nice. I mean, is she though? This is my mom. I'm kind of…"

"Protective?" A smile spread across the hero's face. "Oh, honey that's…Yes, she's nice. Kara would never do anything to hurt your mother. She really, really cares about your mom. It's okay, really."

"Okay." Lori sighed. "It's just I'm out here, and my mom's out there. I couldn't even see her when this happened. I couldn't even tell anyone here what happened except for Mama Nina and her parents."

"Who's Mama Nina?"

"She's my mom on my other birth certificate. Nina Kinsinger is listed as my mom here in school. That's my name, kind of, Lori Kinsingner." The girl sighed. "I guess I've just been kind of stressed about everything. Mom tells me she's fine and not to worry, but that's Mom. I just wish I could be there, you know?"

Supergirl nodded.

"I only get to see her twice a year. I know it sounds selfish, but I was worried she'd cancel our vacation that falls on my birthday because of this. It's not that I wanted to go to Greece or someplace. It's not about vacation. I miss her and I…I guess I want to see for myself that she's all right and…I don't want to be selfish but…"

Supergirl watched as Lori's eyes softened, a certain wetness showing in them, and the girl's mouth turned down, and a quiver began. "Oh sweetie, love's not selfish. You're worried, and you love your mom. You're allowed. It's okay. It's okay."

Scrubbing at her face with the sides of her hands, Lori nodded briefly as she sniffed and said, "Mom says we need to be strong. She says especially when things are hard, we need to be strong."

Supergirl looked over at Lena for a moment, considering the woman who had gone through so much recently, so much more in her life, but refused even to allow herself to cry when believing she wouldn't walk again. Lena was definitely strong. Pursing her lips, she considered what was being asked of Lori and if it were too much.

Nodding to herself, Supergirl gave Lori a small smile. "Sweetie, your mom is doing great. I know she asked you to be strong, and you have been. It's okay to be upset too. Strong isn't not being upset, not feeling things." She watched the emotions spread over the girl's face as Lori listened. "Heck I can throw a bus into orbit, but I'm a hot mess sometimes. Strong means doing what needs to be done anyway, but you need to let yourself feel your feelings and not think there's anything wrong for having them. They're natural and healthy. Of course, you were upset and scared, worried, whatever else you felt when your mom was hurt. That makes perfect sense. You held it together and didn't tell the folks at school, but maybe you need someone to talk to about these things when you need to fall apart a little bit."

Lori sniffed, nodding. "Maybe. You think?"

"I know I do," Supergirl replied. "If Mama Nina isn't your person, talk to Kara. I know she's been pretty upset since your mom's been shot. She has people she can talk to about general stuff here, but no one else she can really talk to about your mom since no one else knows."

"Except for you," Lori pointed out.

"Uh, yeah, I mean, duh," Supergirl replied, slapping her palm against her forehead. "Except for me, of course. You can both talk to me, but you guys don't exactly have me on speed dial. Plus you never know when I'll be off rescuing a kitten from a tree or something." Supergirl sat smiling a bit weakly.

Seemingly not noticing, Lori nodded and said, "Thanks for the advice. I'll speak with Kara and see how she feels about it. It would be great to have someone to talk to about stuff. I mean, my mom is amazing, and Mama Nina is great and all, but it would be nice to have someone who's…I don't know…new to this I guess? I would be nice to have someone who needs me like I need them. Does that make sense?"

"It does," Supergirl agreed. "I bet she'd like a confident too. You'd be helping her out. She could use a friend who—" As the cellphone in her boot vibrated, Supergirl grabbed at it and said, "Hold that thought." She pulled it out to read the incoming text.

 **3 People**

AlexOnatopp: "We have a situation in a residential section."

Supergirl sighed.

KrispyKremator: "Update me."

AlexOnatopp: "We picked up some odd radiation levels, but we're having problems pinpointing their origin."

Alex Onatopp: "I was against calling you in, but I was voted down. We have a full squad of agents here as your backup."

KrispyKremator: "By radiation, do you mean Kryptonite?"

AlexOnatopp: "Yes, but Supergirl, you don't have to show up. Just say no, okay?"

Supergirl sighed as she considered walking into a known Kryptonite situation. Not for anything less than the life of someone she loved, or a request from the DEO, would she knowingly stroll into an area irradiated by Kryptonite.

"Hey, you okay?" Lori asked. "You're being pretty quiet, but your face looks really upset. You've got this thing going on between your eyebrows."

Hand flying up to cover her nemesis, the crinkle, Supergirl nodded down at the face of girl in the iPad that sat on her lap. "Just one moment, okay? It's work."

"Ah, well then someone has you on speed dial," Lori replied with a smirk.

Supergirl didn't answer, just went back to texting.

KrispyKremator: "I'll be there."

Alex Onatopp: "Are you sure? You don't have to."

KrispyKremator: "It's fine. You'll have my back."

Alex Onatopp: "Always. I'll have Winn send the location."

HottSchott: "On it. GPS coordinates incoming. There will be no heroes lost in transit or otherwise."

KrispyKremator: "I do have one condition."

AlexOnatopp: "Name it. Is it food?"

KrispyKremator: "No. Okay, now it is. Now I have two conditions."

KrispyKremator: "1. Have food for me when I get there. I'm hungry."

AlexOnatopp: "Good thing I was sitting down when you dropped that bomb. Done. What else?"

KrispyKremator: "This one's for Winn. 2. Change back the names of my contacts and stop messing with them."

HottSchott: "They're code names. We're a secret government organization. We need code names. Plus, code names are cool."

Supergirl snorted.

"What's so funny?" Lori asked.

"I'll tell you later.

KrispyKremator: "These are not code names. You used your own last name, and I'm pretty sure you named Alex after a Bond girl."

AlexOnatopp: "What!?"

AlexOnatopp: "jfk! Which one!? If it's Octopussy, you are a dead man Winn!"

AlexOnatopp: "Do you know how many ways I know to kill a man!?"

AlexOnatopp: "Do you know how many days I can make that death last!?"

HottSchott: "I'm changing it! I'm changing it!"

HottSchott: "Way to have my back, Kara. So much for friendship."

DEO2: "Winn! 7 ways with just my index finger!"

LeadTech: "It's done! Tell her it's done!"

SG: "It's done, Alex."

LeadTech: "I call James as my next partner for game night."

Laughing, Supergirl, put her phone back into her boot. "Hey, sorry to cut this short, kiddo, but duty calls."

"You've got to fly?" Lori sat up straight, nodding in response to her own question even as she bit her lower lip.

"I do," Supergirl agreed. "I'm going to give you back to your mom. We'll catch up later, okay?"

As the iPad was handed back to her, Lena asked, "Everything all right?"

"Sure, just hero stuff. You know."

Lena pointed at Supergirl.

"What?" As realization hit, Supergirl put her fingers over the crinkle between her eyebrows. "I'll speak to you later, okay Miss Luthor?"

"What aren't you telling me?"

"It's…" Looking back and forth between Lena and the face of Lori peering curiously from the screen, Supergirl dropped her hand and replied, "Miss Luthor, this is official business. It doesn't concern a civilian. Perhaps we'll speak again soon."

Eyes narrowed, Lena promised, "Oh, yes we will."

Swallowing hard, Supergirl nodded once and headed toward the window.

With a gasp, Lori said, "Mom! She's going to fly! Mom! Mom!"

"Yes, yes, I'm right here," Lena said twisting the screen toward herself.

"No, Supergirl!" Lori said pointing behind Lena. "I want to watch her fly! Take me to the window."

"Won't that be just like watching it on the television or—"

"Mom!"

"All right. All right." Pushing her tray away, Lena put the iPad on her lap and turned her chair, moving after the hero and calling, "Supergirl!"

Just outside the window, Supergirl grabbed the window frame and pulled herself back so that her head stuck through again. "Yes, Miss Luthor?"

Wheeling up to the window, Lena held up the iPad and said, "Would you mind? Lori wants to…uh, see you off."

"Oh, not a problem," Supergirl pushed off the window frame and waved at Lori. "Bye, Lori. I hope you and I get to talk again soon. Take care of your mom for me, okay?"

"Okay, I will, Supergirl!" Lori replied, waving back.

"Goodbye, Miss Luthor."

"Goodbye, Supergirl. You and I will speak again soon."

With a smile and a small nod, Supergirl replied, "Oh, I have no doubt about that." The hero drifted backward for a few feet, then turned sideways. She smiled brightly, waving again, then took off quickly with a whoosh of air.

"Wow!" Lori said, exhaling as her smile grew.

"Wow indeed," Lena said, turning her daughter back to her. "Happy?"

"Mom, that was really Supergirl! You really know Supergirl!"

Raising one eyebrow, Lena asked, "Lori, you've seen pictures online of me with her. Did you think I was lying to you when you said I've spoken to her privately on more than one occasion?"

"No, Mom, I believed you. It's just different hearing a thing and seeing it, you know? That was…it was…It was really real, you know?"

Elbow on the arm of the wheelchair, Lena rested her chin on the palm of her hand and smiled while her daughter continued to bubble over with enthusiasm. This moment was indeed really real.

Supergirl landed at the coordinates that Winn had given her, just a few feet away from the black SUVs. She nodded at Vasquez who nodded back, exchanging greetings with a few of the other agents that were in the area. Supergirl made her way to the front vehicle where Alex and another agent looked at a map that was held down with radios and spread across the hood of the vehicle.

With a tilt of her chin, Alex said, "Supergirl, thanks for coming so quickly. Are you sure you want to do this? If you'd rather—"

"Agent Danvers, it's fine," Supergirl said walking closer to her sister, before speaking quickly. "Relax, Alex. Don't baby me. You must have half the DEO out here."

"Half, hardly," Alex said with a head shake as she took Supergirl by the arm and almost dragged the hero to the side. "I wanted half the DEO, but J'onn refused to pull more people in for this. I mean, Agent Sanchez had her baby three weeks ago. How much leave do you get after you have a baby, anyway?"

"I know!" Supergirl said, pulling her phone from her boot and unlocking it, then going to the picture section. "Look how cute he is!"

Scrunching up her face, Alex pushed the phone to the side and rather noncommittally replied, "Adorable. So we've gone block by block through the neighborhood. We've cordoned off a five block by five block area where the radiation seems to be concentrated."

"Have you evacuated the civilians?"

Alex shook her head. "The levels aren't elevated enough to be dangerous to humans. If we didn't have an agent in the area with a Kryptonite detector, we wouldn't have found this."

"What Kryptonite detector? What agent?" Supergirl asked.

Turning, Alex called out, "Hey, Vasquez! Come here a minute!"

The other agent trotted up. "Yes, Agent Danvers?"

"Agent Vasquez, tell Supergirl what you told us about the Kryptonite detector going off early this morning," Alex directed.

"Yes, Ma'am," Vasquez replied with a nod. "Well, I was staying with my mom because she's been concerned. This is usually a great neighborhood, but with what's happened here lately she wanted her daughter, the FBI agent, to stay over."

Alex nodded while Supergirl looked back and forth between the DEO agents.

"It was almost 4:00 AM, and I heard a beeping sound. At first, I thought it was a smoke alarm or a CO2 detector, but it wasn't that loud. Then I realized it was coming from my duffle bag. I opened my sack, and my Kryptonite detector was picking up low levels of radiation. I called in just to make sure the levels were safe for humans, which they were, and to report the incident."

Leaning close to her sister, Supergirl said, "I didn't even know we had Kryptonite detectors."

"These are prototypes. We have a half dozen built off of the original readouts Winn took when he located Lena when Lillian took her. They're still in the test stage."

"They seem successful," Supergirl noted.

"Well, I guess that's what you'll tell us," Alex replied. "We're not getting a strong enough signal to pick up anything on satellite. The levels seem pretty even throughout this area. However…"

"You're thinking I might be a bit more sensitive?" Supergirl guessed.

"I'm thinking you shouldn't be anywhere near this place," Alex replied shortly. "However, I was outvoted, outranked, out…Yes, the thought is that you might be able to detect levels of radiation that these can't. What do you think?"

"Carry me out when I keel over?"

"Before that happens," Vasquez interjected.

"Definitely," Alex agreed. "You ready to get to work?"

"There's just one thing first," Super girl said, one finger held up.

Clapping the hero on the shoulder, Alex said, "I've got a bucket of chicken and a dozen doughnuts in the car."

"Ooooh! Extra crispy?"

"What am I, an amateur? Of course, it's extra crispy chicken. There's a bottle of soda in the back too." When Supergirl skipped off to the SUV, Alex called after her, "Hey, there's a roll of paper towels in the back seat too. Your cape is not a napkin."

"I'm not twelve, Alex," The hero replied with an exasperated huff.

As her sister burrowed through the back of the SUV for food, Alex mumbled, "Then don't act like it."

Whipping around with a bucket of chicken in one hand, a bottle of soda in the other, and a chicken leg clamped between her teeth, Supergirl mumbled, "I heard that."

As Alex rolled her eyes, Vasquez tried but failed to stifle a laugh.

With the DEO agents in tow, Supergirl walked around the neighborhood for the next hour or so. She said she could go faster, but her backup couldn't. With Kryptonite in the area, Supergirl wasn't going anywhere alone. Finally they'd narrowed it down to a smaller area where Supergirl said she was feeling a little bit, "Woogy."

"Woogy?" Alex asked, hands on her hips while she rocked back and forth from heel to toe. "What, exactly, does woogy mean?"

"You know like meh but sort of blah, right?"

Shaking her head, Alex looked at her sister and held out her hands. "Was that an explanation?"

Supergirl nodded.

"That was a shitty explanation."

"Alex, language."

"Supergirl, stop using made up words. In real words, how do you feel?"

Hands on her hips, Supergirl said, "Riz."

"Wh…what? That's not a word."

"Of course it is. I'm sorry, did you want a word in a language you spoke? You should have been more specific."

"Kryptonian?"

Supergirl nodded.

"Very mature."

"Well, I'm bored, Alex. This is boring. Look, I just don't feel like I normally do. I don't know how to explain it."

"So, you feel sick?" Alex suggested.

Supergirl shrugged, but when she saw ire rising on her sister's face, hurriedly added, "I don't remember sick. I know pain. I don't remember it well. It's happened on occasion but not sick. That's been a very long time. I feel…Okay, so when you get shot out of the sky, right before you right yourself and fly again, your stomach does this thing. I feel a little bit like that but not so much. I just feel a little odd."

"So nauseous?"

Brows pushed together and head jutting forward; Supergirl stared at her sister.

"Could you eat?" Alex clarified.

"Is there more food?"

"I withdraw the question. So whatever this is, you think it's Kryptonite, and it's happening here?"

Shrugging again, Supergirl replied, "I don't know about Kryptonite, but I feel something, and your detectors picked up something. Maybe it's a mild enough level of Kryptonite that this is all I feel, or maybe it's some kind of weird hybrid. Maybe's it's—" When her boot vibrated, Supergirl pulled out her phone and stared at it for a moment, biting at her bottom lip as she began to return a text.

"Maybe it's what?" Alex asked.

"Hmmm?"

"You said, 'Maybe it's' and then you grabbed your phone and stopped talking. What were you thinking?" Alex asked.

"Oh uh… Hey, have you reached out to Kal?"

"That's not SOP every time we detect Kryptonite. Why? Is that him?" Alex asked.

"This? No this…" Supergirl wiggled her phone around, then held it close to her torso, screen pointed in. "This situation is unusual. I was thinking maybe Kal has run into this in the past, and he'd have some information on it. I could reach out to him if you want."

"Planning on flying out to Metropolis?"

"Phef, no. I've got too much to do around here," Supergirl said as she backed away, waving a hand at her sister. "Do you need me for anything else?"

"Supergirl, are you planning on leaving? We haven't found the source of the Kryptonite yet," Alex pointed out.

"True, true," Supergirl said. "But when you do, I'm the last one you want here, right?"

"Well, I suppose, but—"

"Great, then I should go!"

"You're leaving? You're just…leaving?" Alex asked.

Supergirl nodded as she began to walk away backward.

"O-kay," Alex said, hands on hips as she narrowed her eyes at her sister. "Are you safe to fly? You don't feel too Riz?"

Supergirl laughed. "Oh, Alex. Riz is a color. That's so funny. See you later," she said as she streaked off into the sky.

Arms crossed over her chest, Vasquez asked, "What color do you think it is?"

"Bullshit."

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing," Alex replied. "Lately she's just been…It's nothing. Vasquez, bring the team in on this two block radius. I want a house to house sweep. We need six teams with a detector on each team."

"Yes, Ma'am. What do we say we're looking for?"

"Whatever gets us in the door," Alex replied. When Vasquez ran off and began to assemble her teams, Alex looked off to the sky and muttered, "What's going on with you, Kara? Why are you keeping secrets from me?"


	35. 35-Kryptahniuo

Landing on the roof of the hospital with the duffle bag in hand, Supergirl pulled out her clothes and dressed quickly into something more Kara Danvers appropriate. Then she grabbed her purse and several small, white boxes from the bag. She rolled up the duffle bag, stowing it away into her purse with a little bit of effort. With one final check of her glasses, she headed to the stairs and headed down to the 7th floor.

Outside of Lena's room, she saw Kalia sitting and typing into a phone. The woman looked up as Kara approached.

With a broad smile, Kara extended one of the white boxes and said, "For you?"

Eyes slightly narrowed, Kalia took the box hesitantly and asked, "What is it?"

"Desert!" Kara said with a bright smile.

"Makes sense coming from you," Kalia replied as she opened the box.

Inside were a selection of chocolates. They were balls, each covered with different toppings. Some had cinnamon sugar, some sprinkles, and others nuts on them. There was a strong chocolate odor wafting from the container.

"Okay, these look good. Some kind of truffle?"

Kara nodded. "You keep giving me dessert. I figured it was my turn. How's our patient?"

"Disagreeable, so the usual. She ate dinner without waiting for you. That surprised me. You have a date with someone else?"

"Date? Me? Someone?" Kara's shoulder's hitched up while she squeezed out some air through her lips. "Do I look like someone who dates someone?"

"Not at the moment," Kalia admitted. "Right now you kind of look like an idiot. Thanks for the chocolate. Why don't you go bother Miss Luthor now."

"Yes, I'll go bother Lena now. Good idea. I'll just be in there, you know, being a bother."

As Kara paused awkwardly, Kalia shooed at the blonde with her free hand until Kara entered Lena's room, closing and locking herself in the room.

"Phew. Lena, I think Kalia's getting suspicious," Kara announced, placing her purse on a chair and two of the three boxes she was carrying down on one of Lena's bedside tables.

Sitting up on her bed and typing on her laptop, Lena pulled off her glass and looked at Kara, asking, "Why, what did you do?"

"Me? Nothing, she's just, you know…suspicious by nature. She's not a trusting person. Why wouldn't she trust me? I'm very trustworthy."

Smiling, Lena scooted to the side of the bed and patted the spot next to her. "Of course you are, darling. So, what did you do today?"

"First, I have this for you," Kara said sitting on the side of the bed, her knee bent, so she was turned to face Lena as she handed over the remaining white box she had in her hand.

"What is it?" Lena asked as she took the box.

"Open it and find out."

With a nod, Lena opened the box eyes widening slightly at the chocolates within. She sniffed, studying them for a moment before looking at Kara again. "What are they exactly?"

"You're so suspicious," Kara said with a bright smile. "They're called brigadeiros. Try one."

"Brigadeiros," Lena repeated. She eyed them all again for a moment, carefully selecting one covered in brown sugar from which she took a tentative bite. After just a moment she froze and said, "Oh my. Kara, that's good."

"Right?" Kara's smile grew. Reaching into the box, she grabbed one covered in nuts and popped it into her mouth. "I was starving and saw these, so I thought I'd share."

Lena took another bite of hers, this time a larger bite, exploring the flavor more. "What's in it? It tastes like a truffle, but the chocolate has a different flavor to it. I know my chocolate too. Keep in mind; I lived in Switzerland for years."

"Oooh, I bet they have great chocolate there."

"Swiss chocolate," Lena agreed.

"Road trip?" Kara urged.

"Is this just an excuse to meet Lori?" Lena asked, putting the rest of the candy in her mouth.

"Lena, I'm offended. Chocolate is never an excuse for anything. Well, maybe for the continued existence of the Earth."

Lena paused, finishing the truffle she was eating she asked, "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"You heard me. There have been days, particularly bad days of course, when I've had to wonder if there's any reason to fight to save this world. Even when I'm not sure there's any other reason, there's chocolate. If there were no humans, who would pick the cocoa beans and make chocolate? So in the end, when things get really bad for me as Supergirl, at least chocolate makes me want to save the world."

Slowly, sagely, Lena nodded and said, "Same, Kara, same." She shook her head, shaking herself free from the moment, and took a second truffle. She held it up and asked, "So again, what are in these?"

"Right, sorry. Kind of derailed myself there," Kara laughed. "So a brigadeiro is similar to a truffle. It's this super sweet two-biter. They make it by heating condensed milk with cocoa powder to form a paste. They mix that with cold butter and roll into small balls." Grabbing one that was covered in coconut, Kara held it up and said, "Then it gets rolled into the toppings. Fun and yummy, right?" She tossed it in her mouth while making happy noises.

Lena nodded, continuing to eat hers. "They're delicious. Where did you get these?"

"Brazil," Kara replied around a mouthful of chocolate.

"Brazil? Brazil! What were you doing in Brazil?"

"Buying dessert."

Lena sighed, finishing hers and looking at the box again. "Obviously. Did you go to Brazil just for dessert? Knowing you the answer may be yes, but I'd hate to make that assumption. Did you? Did you go to Brazil just for dessert?" Suddenly, she pushed the box away from herself and toward Kara. "Damn it. Take these away from me. We're not all lucky enough to have alien DNA."

"They're good, right?" Kara said, popping another one in her mouth.

"Much too good. Now, answer my question."

Licking her fingers, Kara said, "Oh, I was on my way back from Antarctica."

One eyebrow raised, Lena stared while Kara pulled out another candy and put it into her mouth while making her pleasure verbally known. When the blonde tried for yet another, Lena snapped the lid closed and said, "You can eat more when you tell me where you went today and why you were there."

"Mean," Kara said, pouting. "Fine, I went to the Fortress of Solitude to get something for you. Now can I…?" Kara waved her finger over the box.

"Something for me? What did you go to get for me?"

"Hold on." Kara reached for the candy box, waiting for Lena to release it before putting it on the bedside table and standing. Pausing, the blonde turned and pointed at the box as she said, "Don't eat anymore. The rest are mine."

"Agreed. Wait, whatever you brought me back from the Fortress of Solitude isn't edible, is it?"

Kara shook her head. "No, the only edible thing we have there is ice. You didn't want any ice from Antarctica, did you?"

"It's about the only calories I can afford after eating those," Lena mumbled.

Giggling, the blonde went to her purse and dug around eventually pulling out a flash drive. "I had to go the The Fortress to get this, but then I had to go to the…the other place I work to get the information put onto a flash drive. The Fortress of Solitude isn't equipped with flash drive technology."

Lena nodded, staring at the item in the hand that Kara waved around as she spoke.

"I stopped off in Brazil on my way back from Antarctica because I was hungry. I ate and picked up some dessert for here, for Kalia and us and some for…work."

"Work," Lena repeated.

"Right, work," Kara agreed. "Then I went to work, put the information from the Fortress onto a flash drive, and came back here to give it to you."

"To give it to me," Lena said, still watching Kara's wildly gesturing hand.

"Exactly. See, when we were talking the other day, it occurred to me that you'd have a lot of downtime, well maybe a not a lot because you're you and you work so much. Lena, you shouldn't work so much." Kara pushed up her glasses. "But, you'll have some downtime while you're recovering. Anyway, you mentioned something you wanted, and I realized I could get it for you if I could find a way to get it into a format I could bring to you. So I had to talk to my work, make sure they could transfer it into an Earth-based technology before I could tell you about it. Turns out they could," Kara finished smiling brightly.

"And that's it." Lena pointed at Kara's hand.

The blonde nodded holding up the flash drive.

"Kara, is this all some elaborate ruse to see if I can actually walk?"

Head tilted to the side, Kara's brow furrowed while she looked at Lena. "Why would you ask me that?"

"Because I'm about to get out of this bed and take that from your hand!"

"Oh!" Hurriedly, Kara handed over the flash drive. "Sorry."

"Thank you. I don't have many virtues, and you won't find patience on that short list."

Kara nodded, sliding into bed next to the CEO again. She watched while Lena placed the flash drive into her USB port. When her system recognized the drive, and an executable file request popped up, Lena looking at her before clicking on the request for permission to run it.

"It's safe. Trust me," Kara urged.

"I do," Lena said, clicking on the file. "This is an L-Corp system, you know. I'm not going to get an alien virus, am I?"

Kara shook her head repeatedly. "All Kryptonians are virus free on this planet and so is our software. So, that's going to take a few minutes to load. What do you want to do while it runs?"

"Well, you could tell me where you flew off to earlier today."

"Earlier…today?"

Lena nodded, one eyebrow raised while a hint of a smile touched her lips. "You didn't think I forgot about you dashing off earlier, did you?"

"Well, I was kind of hoping you did," Kara admitted. "Lena, it was a work thing. We agreed we'd both have some secrets from each other, but mine are about work."

"It had nothing to do with my mother?"

"Of course not. Did you think…?" Taking Lena's hand, Kara shifted just the slightest bit closer to the other woman. "Lena, I've only had the one other call from your mother, and you heard that. She was just checking in, assuring that I was doing as she'd demanded. I haven't heard from her again. I wouldn't lie to you."

"I…" Lena nodded. "I apologize, Kara. I should trust you. You haven't given me any reason to do otherwise."

"Except that, I was lying about who I was since the day we met."

"That's hardly fair. You had a right to privacy around your identity," Lena countered. "No, my lack of trust has nothing to do with you and everything to do with me. I know that. You can feel free to remind me of it if I need reminding again. When you're raised by people with the worst motives, you start looking for the worst motives in others."

"Well, I think you came out all right," Kara said leaning in and placing a gentle kiss on Lena's lips.

"I wasn't born to them, and I was lucky enough to get shipped out when I was still young." Lena paused, her eyes darkening as she turned away.

"Hey." Gently taking Lena by the chin, Kara turned the other woman's face back to hers. "What's wrong?"

"Curses and blessing bundled together. Apparently, you can't have one without the other."

Considering that for a moment, Kara said, "I'm glad I'm here with you, with my family here, but…"

Lena nodded, "Curses and blesses." She paused while an awkward quiet seemed to grow, then punctuated the silence saying, "I apologize for jumping to that conclusion and for intruding into your work. I will admit it makes me nervous. What you do is dangerous, but you have a right to your privacy."

"Thank you. Thank you for respecting that. You know I am safe. I'm the Girl of Steel and all. Unlike some people, bullets bounce off of me."

"Ugh. Don't worry. The next time someone pulls a gun, I'm hiding behind you. I don't remember the whole getting shot part terribly well, but this recovery has been a bitch."

"I remember you getting shot. No matter how long I live, I'll never forget it." Placing her forehead against Lena's, Kara said, "Please don't do it again."

Shifting her face forward, Lena pressed her lips to Kara's then whispered, "I'll do my best, darling." She pulled back, offering a gentle smile for just a moment before her attention was drawn to the screen when a box popped up on it. "Well, shall we see what you brought me, Miss Danvers?"

"Let's," Kara agreed, seemingly equally pleased to move onto a more pleasant subject.

The file had installed itself as something named "wahzrham" on Lena's system. She opened it to find a fairly sparse setup. There were four rectangular boxes. Three lay alongside each other on top of another that was the length of the other three combined. On top of them, all was the singular word: Search. No other explanation of what it was or how to use it existed.

Looking at Kara, Lena lifted an eyebrow in the way of a question.

"Yeah, sorry," Kara said with a smile. "This was a quick build. I'm sorry that…my work can make this a bit more aesthetically pleasing. Or hey, maybe you can! I bet you'll be all over making the user interface better once you start using this thing. You're a big programming nerd, right?"

"She said 'big programming nerd' as if it's a compliment," Lena drawled.

"It's not?"

"We'll work on compliments, Kara. So what exactly is this? I think I'm even more confused than before I installed it."

"Right. Okay, just type into the box on the top left," Kara indicated one of the boxes as she pointed at the screen.

"Type what?"

"A word, any word. Just type something, and you'll see."

"Or you could explain it to me."

Biting her lower lip, Kara grinned and nodded. "I could, or you could type a word into that box. Just do it. Do it. Go ahead, do it."

With an exasperated sigh, Lena said, "Fine, fine…again a reminder that patience is not one of my virtues. So any word. All right. How about…birthday."

As Lena typed, Kara asked, "Is it your birthday?"

"No, but you said gift, and for some reason that made me think of birthdays."

"When is your birthday?"

Looking at Kara out of the side of her eye, Lena hit the return key on the keyboard. The first rectangle stayed filled with the word 'birthday'. The second rectangle was suddenly filled with 'threzeht' while odd symbols filled the third rectangle. In the bottom longer rectangle was a flashing square. When Kara opened her mouth to speak, Lena held up one finger to silence the blonde.

Lena sat still for over a minute. Her only source of outward movement was a tremble between her brows as she strained to connect the mental dots. Suddenly her eyebrows flew up, and she turned to Kara with a gasp. "It's a dictionary!"

Smiling broadly, the blonde nodded.

"Kara, it's a…a…Those symbols, they're…"

"Kryptahniuo," Kara said. "I promised I'd teach you. This is just vocabulary, so no grammar, but you have to start somewhere. Think this will keep you busy while you—?"

The kiss surprised Kara. She didn't even have enough time to respond in kind before Lena broke it.

"This is amazing!" Lena said. "I love it! What does this do?" Lena asked clicking on the flashing square in the bottom rectangle and answering her own question.

The rectangle filled in with, "Though Kryptonians acknowledge the day a child is born, it is not celebrated as it is on Earth. The similar day that is celebrated is that of threvzeht, the name day. This generally occurs within two or three weeks after a child is born. As the name suggests, on this day a child receives their name and becomes an official member of their family's house."

"Name Day, you have a Name Day because your name isn't Kara Danvers," Lena said, swallowing hard.

"You're correct. It's not." Smiling, Kara titled her head to the side. "Are you all right?"

"I'm…"

When Lena didn't say anything else for several moments, Kara lifted the laptop. "I'm just going to move this. I'm worried you've short circuited. I'll just…" Looking at the table next to her, Kara realized it had chocolate boxes on it. Leaning over the other woman, Kara placed it on the table next to Lena. "Ah, excuse me."

"Kara." Grabbing the blonde by the shirt front, Lena said, "Or whatever your name is, this is the most amazing gift I've ever received. Thank you."

"Oh, you don't have to thank me, Lena. I was glad to—"

Then there were lips on lips again. Hands wound their way around Kara's neck, and this time she was a bit better prepared. She leaned into the kiss, and Lena didn't seem eager to end it. Kara pressed down onto Lena, hands against the mattress, when she felt Lena's hands move from around her neck to her shirt front again.

When Lena's hands slid down Kara's shirt front, one button after another being opened, the blonde withdrew slightly. "What…What are you doing?"

Kissing along Kara's jaw, Lena ran a hand under Kara's partway opened shirt. "You're wearing it."

"It?"

"The suit. God, that's hot," Lena said, placing kisses along Kara's neck. "Say something in Kryptonian."

"Actually, our language is Kryptahniuo," Kara corrected, moaning slightly as Lena continued to kiss along her neck. "Okay, well if you like this, I've got a whole spaceship to show you."

The kisses stopped, Lena pulled her head back and said, "Space…ship?"

Nodding, Kara smiled and said, "That's how I got to this planet. I have a spaceship, though technically it's a pod. It can travel through space. If you want, I could show it to you. I'd have to clear some things with work, but I'll figure it out."

"Oh, I want Kara. I very much want." Lena kissed Kara again, then glanced at the door. "What's Kalia doing right now?"

"Kalia? Why?"

"Perhaps it's time for her break. What do you think?" Lena's smile was slow and sexy.

With a slight shiver, Kara nodded quickly. "A break. A break sounds good. Uh…Kalia. Kalia, she's outside the door talking to…Why does that voice sound familiar?" Pulling down her glasses, Kara peered over the frames and gasped, jumping from the bed and marching halfway across the room. "What is **he** doing here!?"

"Who?"

"Max Lord," Kara said, spinning back to Lena again.

"Oh, bugger," Lena said, pushing herself upright and pinching the bridge of her nose. "Kara, maybe you should just…leave."

"Oh, there is no way I'm leaving you alone with Max Lord. Do you know what he's capable of?"

Sighing, Lena replied, "Unfortunately."

"Lena, he made red Kryptonite."

"He what?"

Kara nodded. "He did it on purposes. He didn't know what it would do, but he's the one that infected me and sent me off on a rage throughout the city. I nearly killed Miss Grant."

"Oh, Kara, I'm so sorry. Yes, Maxwell is a rather…regrettable person. I didn't realize he was behind that incident. That was all before my time here. Look, perhaps that's an even better reason for you to leave. If you can't control your temper around Maxwell—"

"I can control my temper. He's just a…a big…mean…awful…bad person man. Ugh! I can't stand him."

"Kara, likely Kalia will be knocking on the door any moment. Go unlock it and sit over there on a chair. Do something on your phone to look busy. I'll check work emails. Oh, fix your shirt." Lena grabbed her laptop again, closing the dictionary and going back to what she was working on before.

"My shirt?" Looking down, Kara began to button her blouse back up. "Fine, but I don't like this. I don't like him being around you." After unlocking the door, she went back and grabbed her purse to get her phone she also grabbed the opened box of chocolate from the table. "I'm taking this too, though. If I have to face Max Lord, I'm not doing it without chocolate."

"Lucky you." Less than a minute later, there was a knock on the door, and Lena said, "Come in!"

The door opened just enough for Kalia to peek her head in as she said, "Miss Luthor, you have a…oh." She opened the door the rest of the way. "Miss Luthor, Mr. Maxwell Lord is here to see you."

"Of course, Kalia," Lena said, pulling her glasses off again. "Maxwell, to what do I owe this unexpected…? Hello."

"Lena, well you look marvelous!" Max said as he swept into the room, smile broad within his rather obviously groomed scruff. Sitting on the side of the bed and taking Lena's hand in his own, he asked, "Can it really be that just a few short weeks ago you were shot and not expected to recover? Odds were against you, sweetheart."

"Oh, Maxwell, you didn't bet against me, did you? Lose some money in Vegas and come to complain?"

Max laughed loudly. "Bet against a Luthor? Nonsense! You'd have to be a Super to go against a Luthor and have any chance of winning." Slowly, Max turned his head and smiled at Kara. "Hello, Kara. Long time no see."

"Max," she replied between gritted teeth. "Not long enough."

One eyebrow raised, Lena said, "I wasn't aware that you two knew each other."

"Well…" Kara glanced up at Kalia. "We've met."

"Yes, do you want to tell her how, Kara? No? Well, I don't mind." He smiled at Kara for several heartbeats before facing Lena again and informing the other woman, "You see, I dated Kara's sister."

"Alex Danvers? Maxwell, you dated Alex Danvers?" Lena asked.

"I did. Beautiful woman. Good right hook," Max said rubbing at his jaw but laughing at his own joke.

"Huh." Lena nodded. "Apparently, modern psychology is in error."

"About?" Max asked.

"Homosexuality can be a choice," Lena said with a hint of a smile. "Or perhaps just a defense mechanism."

Kalia turned what might have been a laugh into a cough very quickly then asked, "Miss Luthor, are you all right, or would you like me to stay?"

"She's fine, Kalia. You can run along," Max said with a shooing motion, never even looking at the nurse.

"Miss Luthor?" Kalia asked again.

"It's fine, Kalia. Why don't you take a break? We'll be fine here."

Kalia nodded once, then pointed at the wipe board where her name and number were written. "I won't be far. If anyone needs anything, they just have to call or text me."

"We won't need you," Max said grinning again though this time at the nurse. When Kalia left, he turned to Lena again. "She's very loyal. How do you manage to inspire such loyalty?"

"Not strapping bombs to your employees is a good start," Kara said, looking at her phone.

"What exactly happened on this date with Alex Danvers?" Lena asked. "Were there bombs?"

Smirking, Max shook his head. "Well, not literal ones. Perhaps the metaphorical bomb or two was dropped."

"Way I hear it, Alex dropped your…butt," Kara mumbled.

"I heard you dropped something else, Kara…off a balcony," Max replied.

Jumping to her feet, Kara was at the side of the bed in about two seconds.

"Kara!" Lena shook her head, her mouth a tight line.

Taking a cleansing breath, Kara gave one nod. "Sorry." She returned to her seat, but this time sat with her legs crossed and stared with unhidden anger at Max.

"Short leash, huh Lena? Good job," Max noted. "Anyway, I came here to check in on you. How are you feeling?"

"Fine."

"And your recovery? How is that coming along? I've heard you've managed an impressive bit of walking. It's true, yes?"

With a small laugh, Lena replied, "I'd hardly call it impressive. I can walk about ten feet holding the railings, then turn and make my way back before being totally exhausted. Honestly, that takes it out of me, Maxwell."

"It's impressive, Lena," Kara chirped in. "A week ago you didn't have feeling in your legs. This is a…miracle."

"Yes, a miracle. Perhaps you had the intervention of some god," Max said smiling broadly.

"Hardly," Lena's face was placid. "I was lucky and modern medical advances have been kind to me. Let's not attribute anything to divine intervention. I'm quite certain divinity had nothing to do with this."

Max laughed. "If you say so. Well, I don't want to take up too much of your time, ladies. Lena, when you're out of here, you'll be coming to see me, yes?"

"Of course, Maxwell. You and I have business matters to discuss. L-Corp is very interested in that new battery Lord Industries has been developing. Together we can make a better product, revolutionize the industry."

"That's what I wanted to hear!" Max leaned forward, cupping Lena's cheek. "I'm so glad you're well, Lena. I'm looking forward to deepening our relationship. We've been too distant for too long. You know that's not what your brother hoped for us, don't you?" Before Lena could reply, Max leaned forward and kissed Lena on the cheek but close to the corner of her mouth.

From her vantage point, Kara couldn't see exactly where the kiss landed. She just stood and moved to the side, searching for a better angle. The kiss lasted too long. It was two, three, four long seconds before a smiling Maxwell Lord pulled away from an uneasy looking Lena Luthor while Kara stood with her whole body tense, hands in fists. Luckily her phone had been left on her chair, or it would have been crumbled into bits.

"Best of luck on your continued recovery, Lena. I wouldn't want anything to come between our partnership. I do so look forward to it." Grinning, he turned and headed to the door without waiting for Lena's reply.

Just short of the doorway, Kara caught Max by the forearm and whispered, "Keep away from her, Max. I don't know what your business is, but keep it to emails and con calls. Hasn't she suffered enough? She doesn't need you in her life."

Max whispered in response, "I don't think I'm the problem. She's in here because of you. We both know it, though I'm sure everyone else has been too polite to say it to your face. She lost the one person she loved because your family played games with hers, and now she almost lost her life. Maybe you should stop playing games with her…Supergirl."

"Ahem." Clearing her throat, Lena sat up in bed with one eyebrow raised.

Speaking in a normal tone, Max smiled again as he pulled back his arm. "Thank you, Kara. I'll take that under consideration. I'm sure you'll do the same with what I said. Lena, looking forward to working together to our mutual benefit."

This time Kara did nothing but glare as Maxwell Lord swept out of the room like he owned the place. Once he was gone, she turned to Lena. With slumped shoulders and a deep frown, the blonde said nothing. The displeasure was sketched all over her face.

"Thank you for not pummeling him."

"Not pummeling him yet," Kara corrected the other woman. "I'll have plenty of other opportunities; I'm certain."

Lena nodded. "Maxwell does tend to bring that out in people."

"Lena, why are you doing business with him?" Kara asked as she flounced onto the side of the bed.

"It's good business."

"I know you better than that. You'd never say being involved with Lord Industries is good business. What's going on?"

Lena shrugged then said, "They have a battery design that looks incredibly promising. I've been hesitant to get involved just because it is Lord Industry, but that's just simple bigotry on my part."

"Or well-founded common sense."

"When it comes to business, I can't be driven by my own personal feelings. I need to do what's right for L-Corp, and in this case, it's working with Lord Industries."

"I can't believe you're saying this!" Kara said standing, her arms rising and falling as they slapped onto her sides.

"Kara, just relax a moment so we can talk reasonably."

"How can we? I just got over telling you I nearly killed Miss Grant because of that man. Oh! And do you remember when there was a version of me flying around and messing things up? Max made a doppelganger of me out of some poor woman who was in a coma. She had my powers but she talked like Cookie Monster, and he sent her to kill me. Also, National City had a bomb at the airport and the train at the same time here about a year before you arrived. Those were just a test that Max set up for me. He's a monster."

"All right. All right. I believe you." Lena patted the spot next to her on the bed again and waited until Kara sat down. "Now, will you listen to me for a moment?"

"I…yes, of course. Go on."

"Maxwell Lord is an insult to anyone else on this planet that requires oxygen to breathe. You won't get an argument from me on that front. I'm going to assume you can't prove anything you just said or else you'd have him in jail, not that I'm asking for proof. I already said I believe you."

"It's complicated."

"How?"

Kara sighed.

"Look, Kara, Lord Industries has a revolutionary battery design. In the past thirty-five years, we've seen microchips become 10,000 times more powerful while battery power has seen a ten percent increase. We use batteries for everything, even solar and wind power. We're not just talking about making a financial killing, though cornering the market on this kind of rechargeable battery could be worth billions. We could help save the planet and shut down child slave labor mines. Supergirl may not understand this, but as a Luthor, I know that sometimes the end justifies the means."

"Save the planet and help children huh?"

Lena nodded.

As tension melted away and her face softened, Kara said, "That one heck of an end. Is that really what you Luthors are all about?"

With a shrug, Lena admitted, "Well, the billions won't hurt."

Kara laughed. "They'll keep the board off your case."

"Oh, the board will be ecstatic," Lena agreed. "I'm sure they haven't been happy that I decided to get shot and then lie around in a hospital bed all this time."

"Well, what did they expect? They have a female CEO."

Lena's mouth hung agape for several seconds before she smiled. "Oh, my God, Kara. Have you been talking to my board because that imitation was uncanny? This whole hospital stay was either due to my youth or a fit of hormones."

Face scrunched up; Kara shook her head. Getting up, she closed and locked the door again before making her way back to Lena and carefully climbing back into bed again. "Lena, what did Max mean when he said that Lex wanted you and him not to be so distant?"

"It was nothing."

"Honestly? This is an 'us thing', not a 'work thing', right?"

Lena paused, then nodded. "You're right. Professionally, Luthor Corp and Lord Industries had many dealings because Lex and Maxwell were very close. They were friends. When I took over Luthor Corp, I cut off ties with many businesses whose direction I found distasteful. Lord Industry was on that cut. That, renaming the company, it's all part of the reason that Lex has sent his messengers to me."

"Has sent people to kill you."

"Yes, that. Max was reminding me that there was a time our companies were closer. However, to be transparent, Lex was also a bit of a matchmaker."

Kara stiffened. "Excuse me?"

"Kara, don't. It's just something that happened in our social circle. It didn't mean anything. It was only odd because Lex was nine years older than I. My parents certainly pranced me out in front of many fathers with sons around my age, wealthy children who went to the right schools. We were eight and nine years old, and they talked about us like we were breeding stock because we were. With Lex, though, cute kid meant potential pretty girl. I didn't get it then, and I'm not sure Lex really meant it quite like that. He knew Mother and Father would marry we off eventually and might have been trying to help me find a better option."

"Well, what would he think of your current significant other?"

Lena laughed while snorting. "If he weren't already trying to kill me, this would do it."

Sliding closer to Lena again, Kara nodded. "Say what you want about my family not trusting you, but my family likes you much more than yours likes me. You have to give me that."

"That's true," Lena agreed, pulling Kara's arm over her shoulder. "Now, after you said all of those things about Max, you said things were complicated with him. Is this about your work, or would you care to share?"

"Well…It's sort of about my work. I can tell you some of it, but there are things I can't tell you, okay?"

"Agreed."

With a deep sigh, Kara said, "So, when Alex went out with Max, and for the record, it wasn't a real date. She was investigating him for the FBI. It was like a sting operation."

"Oh, Alex you hero. That makes much more sense," Lena said, one eyebrow raised as she nodded. "Now that's an American hero. Did she get a medal or a commendation?"

Laughing, Kara said, "No, but she definitely deserved one. Anyway, while she was investigating him, Max was investigating her. He bugged her and he…found out who I am. He knows I'm Supergirl."

Gasping, Lena stiffened. "He what!?"

"I know. We threw him in jail for a bit because he's a threat but—"

"Kara, he's incredibly dangerous! Your people, whoever they are, you have to… Damn it!"

"Are you all right?"

"No, I'm not all right! Maxwell Lord knows who you are! Kara, this is why you and I, why we can't—"

"Hey, no!" Kara said, pulling Lena close again when the woman tried to pull away. "Max Lord has known who I was for a year before you came to National City. This has nothing to do with our relationship. Don't bring us into this. Just…don't. We're in this together now, all right?"

Burying her head in Kara's shoulder, Lena nodded.

"Better. Don't you worry about Max Lord knowing who I am. I have tons of dirt on him. He isn't going to expose me, all right? So you trust me?"

"I do," Lena responded barely above a whisper.

"Good. Do you want to play with your new program again for a bit?"

"Not quite yet. Would it be all right if we just stayed like this for a bit? I find myself in need of some simple comfort."

"Well, simple and comforting are two of my specialties. Throw in ice cream and potstickers and you pretty much summed me up." Kara sighed. "Now I want ice cream and potstickers. Are you hungry?"

Lena shook her head.

"You all right?"

"Tired. I just want…this."

"This you can have," Kara replied, pulling Lena in even closer. "I didn't mean to upset you so much. Max Lord won't hurt you. He can't hurt us. Don't worry, okay? Just trust me."

Eyes open, Lena stared at a spot on the wall, barely blinking. Her hand knotted itself into Kara's shirt while she tried to concentrate on the Kryptonian's heartbeat. When her eyes closed, her face scrunched tight, lines etching her face. Eyes opening again, and her usual green seemed a darker shade perhaps warning of a storm ahead.


	36. 36-Home

Supergirl landed in the lot near the abandoned building. There were already two police cruisers and an ambulance there. As she walked by the unmarked car, Supergirl was fairly certain it was Maggie's which made sense given who had called her. X-ray vision led her to the people within the building, a tight cluster of emergency response folks with grave faces in the middle of a serious discussion.

"Detective Sawyer!" Supergirl lifted a hand as she raised her voice in greeting.

Maggie gave a little chin nod in response, breaking away from the group and heading to meet the hero halfway. "Hey, thanks for meeting me here, Supergirl."

"Anytime. How are you doing? I didn't think you'd be back at work so soon. You were only released from the hospital three weeks ago."

With a bright smile, Maggie looked around to make sure they wouldn't be overheard. "Yeah, if you could not mention seeing me on site to your sister, that would be great. I'm supposed to be riding a desk for another three weeks, and she's a cruel mistress."

"No problem." Supergirl smiled broadly in response. "I won't tell Alex if you don't tell her the grocery store wasn't out of double chocolate brownie ice cream last night. I ate it all waiting for her to get back with dinner. She got into some argument with the guy at the restaurant where she was picking up our takeout and took forever getting home, so I got hungry and ate it."

"I didn't even know about that."

"You do now," Supergirl said, elbowing the detective while continuing to grin. "Hey, thanks for coming by and checking on Lena. The nurses said you've been by the hospital a few times now. Somehow, I keep missing you."

Nodding, Maggie rubbed her arm. "Yeah, lousy luck there. You'd think we'd have run into each other. You there a lot checking on Lena?"

"Oh, me? Eh, nah. You know. Not…really. Some but…Why am I here now? Why did you call me?" Supergirl asked.

"Follow me, kid. We've got something we'd like you to take a look at, but you should know, it's pretty alarming."

Placing a hand on Maggie's good shoulder and squeezing gently, Supergirl replied, "Maggie, I've seen a lot. You know that. I'll be fine."

"Yeah, uh…not like this."

"Really?"

Maggie nodded. "This is…it's…just try not to inhale. The smell stays with you."

"Well, okay then. So, what is this about?" Supergirl asked. "It's not a Lillian Luthor thing, is it?"

"Not as far as we know, why? Is she still calling you?"

"A few times. It's still the same things. She tells me to stay away from the police, or maybe from certain areas of town. You've gotten the information every time I've heard from her. Could this be from Lillian?"

"We're still piecing this together whatever it is," Maggie admitted, leading Supergirl around a few twists and turns where an unpleasant odor grew stronger. "I got a call from a CI early this morning. I headed down and got some pictures, called in a few more folks and the lab techs. The rate of decay has been astounding. We have no idea what's causing it. Maybe you can tell us."

"Decay?"

As they reached a door, Maggie pulled it open, and the smell hit Supergirl straight on in the face. The hero staggered back, unprepared for the full effected. It was warm, sweet, foul, nauseating and overpowering. It struck Supergirl almost like a physical force and seemed to cling to her. She retched and gagged, the hero falling back as she tried to place some clean air between herself and the offending room.

"Yeah I, uh, tried to warn you about that," Maggie said, coughing a bit as she pulled her jacket over her own face. "Man, I think it's gotten worse. You okay? Hey, kid, you okay?"

"Great Rao above!" Supergirl leaned against a far war, battling against her stomach's contents desires to leave the way they came. "That's foul!"

"Yeah, be warned. It pretty much looks like it smells," Maggie said stepping into the doorway and gesturing for the blonde to follow when the other woman finally made eye contact. "You going to be okay?"

"I…" The hero nodded. "Yes, I just feel like my food wants to do eating but backward."

"Yeah, the smell is pretty nauseating. Try not to breathe it in through your nose," Maggie advised.

"Oh, that's nausea?" Supergirl nodded, grabbing at her cape and pulling it up to protect herself from the odor. "I have no memory of it. I think I'll remember that for a while. Stay food. I can't afford to replace you. Okay, I think I'm a little better. Let's go."

In a far corner, on and partially in what might have been a mattress in another lifetime, was a pile of bubbling goo. The colors went from tan to bright red with several shades along the way. It was thick and popped and gurgled up as if it were slowly boiling. The consistency was not unlike a chili, lumps and all. Solid pieces, mostly white, seemed to be floating around in the stew. It ran mostly the length of the mattress with brown at either end.

"What…? What is…? Maggie?"

"Doesn't look familiar to you?" Maggie asked, her face still pressed into her jacket interior.

Cape pulled over her mouth and nose and pressed closely; Supergirl shook her head. "Oh, Rao no. I've never seen anything like that. It's all bubbly and oozing and…What's that brown fuzz up there?"

"Hair."

"Hair? You mean like…hair?" Supergirl asked, pulling up some of her own hair and holding it out for an example.

Maggie nodded.

Still incredibly disgusted, but now a bit more curious than before, Supergirl crossed behind Maggie to get a better look at the thing on the mattress. She looked up and down the goo, leaning one hand on her knee as the smell, or maybe the thought of this thing, was making her feel ill.

Picking up her hand from her knee for just a moment, the hero pointed from one end to the other saying, "Wait, if that's hair, are these…shoes?"

"Think so," Maggie admitted. "This is the second one we found."

"Second?" Supergirl whipped around quickly, losing her balance and getting caught by the shorter girl.

"Whoa! Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah I…I…I'm not sure."

"You're not sure?" Feeling Supergirl slump into her arms a bit more, Maggie half-dragged the hero out of the room. "Kid, stay with me. Damn shoulder. I need some help over here!"

In less than a minute, Erickson showed up, slipping an arm around the hero's other side so they could help Supergirl outside. Quickly they had her sitting on the end of an ambulance, an oxygen mask held against her face.

When Maggie pulled out her cellphone, Supergirl shook her head.

"Kid, I don't want to do this any more than you want me to. She's going to chew my ass out for being here, but I need to call her," Maggie said.

Pulling the mask away, Supergirl said, "Don't call her, Maggie. I'm fine. I just feel a little woogy. I was just…ooh!"

"What?" Maggie asked. She looked over at Erickson, then pointed at him with a thumb. "Do we need girl time, kid? Should I ask Erickson to give us some space?"

"Hey, I thought I was an honorary lesbian," Erickson argued.

Maggie waved him off.

"It's not like that," Supergirl said. "I was out with the…FBI last week, and they found some unusual radiation readings. When I got around them, I felt woogy. This was like that, only worse, much worse. I think it's Kryptonite."

Erickson and Maggie shared a look of alarm.

After taking a few more drags of oxygen, Supergirl asked, "Okay, what did I miss?"

"Kid, you know how I told you we'd found another one of those goo piles?" Maggie asked.

Supergirl nodded.

"Well, we did a DNA test on the remains. That's how we knew it was a human."

"That's about the only way," Erickson mumbled.

Maggie nodded her agreement. "Anyway, we got a hit in CODIS on the DNA, and it was a local boy. You'll be familiar with the name: Geoffrey Banner."

Supergirl shook her head for a moment, and then her eyebrows shot up and she pulled off the oxygen mask and said, "You mean Banner the guy who was arrested with the girl in the trunk of his car and got off because of some evidence issue?"

Erickson grumbled, turning his head to the side before he spit. "Yeah, and then he went missing. We thought he rabbited, but then we find what looks like a melted pile of his remains. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy if you ask me."

Maggie shrugged and said, "So we got one dead pervert, no love loss on the department's end to crack the case quickly. We didn't exactly raise the red flags on that. We figured it was vigilante justice. Now we've got two…people turned to goo. That's concerning especially if there's Kryptonite involved. You sure it's Kryptonite?"

"I'm sure I didn't feel well, and only Kryptonite has ever made me feel that way. Also, the…FBI found Kryptonite readings in the area where I felt woogy."

"Was it Elm between 2nd and 3rd Avenue?" Erickson asked.

"Uh, that was in the search area, yes," Supergirl agreed. "How did you know that?"

"That's where Banner lived," Erickson explained. "Someone took him from there, and whatever happened to him apparently happened around there."

"Or he made his way back there," Maggie suggested. "Look, Supergirl, I've got to bring the feds into this. My Science Division is good, but we're not equipped or licensed to deal with Kryptonite. Understand?"

"Okay, Maggie. Call Agent Danvers so the…FBI can look into this. Just don't tell her I felt woogy. You know how overprotective sh…the FBI gets."

"Uh-huh. I'll make the call, and you should sit here for a few minutes and just relax, Supergirl. I think dead guy fumes got to your head. Okay?"

"No, I'm fine. I actually need to go to the hospital. Someone's heading home today, and I promised—" As she swayed slightly, a hand rested on Supergirl's shoulder, gently urging her back to her spot at the base of the ambulance.

"You can't fly yet. Give it ten minutes, okay? I'm going to make a call to the FBI, enjoy that gentle feeling of having my ass used as a chew toy, and then go supervise the techs while they gather some evidence. I'll get a uniform to watch over you while you take in the sun and some clean air, agreed?"

Nodding up at Maggie, Supergirl said, "Agreed."

As they walked back toward the building, Erickson cynically asked, "She always pause like that before she says FBI?"

"Speech impediment," Maggie replied. "I'm going to call Agent Danvers of the…FBI and see if she wants to come down and take a look at our latest goo pile. If it is Kryptonite, we'll lose custody of Banner's remains also."

"Great," Erickson said with a sly smile. "Our little lesbian trio can be together again."

Standing on the sidewalk, her jacket zipped up tightly and her favorite Supergirl bandana covering her head, Emily stood staring at the sky. She'd been watching for over fifteen minutes now, but still, no one had appeared.

"Emily—"

"She's coming, Dad."

The man looked down at his wife that sat in the car, both of the adult's eyes soft and pained, before he looked at his daughter again. He tried to reason with Emily again saying, "Sweetie, I'm sure she'd be here if she could, but—"

"She promised," Emily said plainly still staring up.

"I know, sweetie, but she has a lot of important things to do. Maybe there was an emergency."

Her face drifting away from the sky, Emily stared at her father for several seconds before saying, "Supergirl keeps her promises." Then she looked skyward once more.

Looking over at his wife again, he said, "She's stubborn. She gets that from you, you know."

"I know," The woman replied smugly. "Stubborn is why she's going home, so thank you."

With a sigh, the man walked around to the driver's side of the car and got in, starting it up and turning on the radio.

"You don't think we're going someplace, do you?" His wife asked.

"Apparently not," he replied, "But I can at least catch the Angels game while we wait."

It was about ten minutes later, and Emily had gotten excited by spotting more than one bird and airplane above her, when her patience finally paid off. One of the objects streaking above her finally turned her way. It zoomed closer, then slowed as it turned and finally came into focus right before landing before her on the ground.

"Supergirl!"

"Emily!" The hero responded as she ran the few remaining steps to the girl slowing down and stopping. Kneeling, she said, "I'm so sorry. The police called me and—"

"It's okay," Emily said with a broad smile, her hand on the hero's shoulders. "You were just running late. I knew you'd be here. I believed in you."

"Oh you did, did you?" Supergirl replied with a grin. "I'm glad you believed in me. What did I do to deserve that?"

"Easy, you believed in me when I didn't believe in me," Emily replied casually with a head tilt.

"Oh…I…" When the little girl folded into her arms for a gentle hug, Supergirl had to look up to keep in tears that burned along the backs of her eyes. Swallowing hard, the hero turned to her right seeing Emily's mother watching her with a sweet smile. Standing with the child in her arms, Supergirl asked, "Ready for your official maiden voyage?"

"Yes!" Emily replied, squirming slightly. "How high are we going to go?"

"That's up to you. I can go pretty high." Supergirl laughed.

"I want to touch the clouds!"

"Okay, maybe not quite that high. That high is for inside the airplane flying," Supergirl informed the child before turning to the car. "What's your address?" When the mother told her, Supergirl nodded and asked. "Do you mind if we take the scenic route?"

"We're not in a rush," Emily's mother replied. "It's isn't every day you get to fly with Supergirl."

"No, it is not," Supergirl replied balancing Emily on her knee as she pulled the girl's hood over the child's head and tied it closed. "It gets windy up there. Ready for takeoff?"

Too excited to speak, Emily nodded, but her smile made her feelings clear. Slowly, Supergirl launched herself into the sky; the little girl wrapped tightly in her arms. They didn't pick up much speed. The wind and pressure would be pretty severe for the child if they did. Still, even going slowly it felt like blasting through the air at 100 miles an hour to Emily but in a good way. She was on top of the world.

Supergirl flew by Emily's school when the little girl pointed it out. They even hovered outside windows, Emily sitting on Supergirl's stomach and waving to classmates who pointed and stared in amazement before the duo took off again. They stopped off at an ice cream truck to get ice cream, though this was Supergirl's suggestion because "Who doesn't love ice cream!?" They stopped off at a park and played on the swings together for a little while. Finally, they took to the air on the final leg of their flight.

Landing in Emily's driveway, Supergirl said, "Well, this is your stop."

"Home," Emily said.

"Yup, you're home."

"Home," Emily repeated, looking up at Supergirl with tears in her eyes. "I made it home."

"Oh, sweetheart." Kneeling, Supergirl wrapped the crying child up in her arms again, not anxious to end the embrace and not able to keep the tears from her eyes either. When Emily finally stepped back, Supergirl asked, "Would it be okay if I stopped by sometime."

"If you want." Emily sniffed. "My birthday is September 21st."

Pulling out her cellphone, Supergirl entered that date into the calendar. "I'll be here so long as I'm not putting out a building fire."

"Or dealing with an alien invasion."

"Will there be birthday cake?"

Emily nodded.

Smiling, Supergirl said, "I'll invite the aliens to partake in the ancient Earth ritual of the eating of the birthday cake. You'd be amazed at how many situations can be resolved peacefully once you introduce food to the equation."

With a smile, Emily hugged Supergirl again. "Thank you so much."

"Oh, you're so welcome, sweetheart." Looking over and seeing Emily's parents waiting by the front door, the hero said, "I think there are two people who are pretty anxious to see you come home."

Seeing her parents, Emily nodded and hurried over to them, stopping once to turn back and waved goodbye to Supergirl.

Supergirl waved back, waiting until the family was all together before taking to the sky again. She had one more stop to make and one more journey to take with someone. This was a busy day, though this time it wouldn't be Supergirl who would be doing it.

"Good afternoon Kara," Lena said as Kara entered her hospital room. "You're late."

"Traffic."

"Traffic," Lena repeated back to the blonde.

Kara nodded.

"You were stuck in traffic."

Kara nodded again.

"Kara, you don't have a car," Lena pointed out.

"I came here on a bus. Buses get stuck in traffic," Kara said with a shrug.

"Oh, you **came** here on a bus, did you?" Lena quipped one eyebrow and stared at the blonde.

"Why are you giving the kid a hard time?" Kalia asked handing over Lena's largest and smallest bag to Kara. "Buses get stuck in traffic. If you'd ever seen the inside of a bus in your lifetime, you'd know that."

"Thank you, Kalia," Kara said with a smirk. As Kalia walked over to grab another bag, Kara stuck out her tongue at the woman in the wheelchair.

Whispering so quietly that only Kara could hear it, Lena said, "Don't start with me. I know you flew here."

Kara opened her mouth to reply, but Kalia showed up and handed over another bag and then held out Lena's crutches.

"Oh, uh…" Putting the strap for the bag over her shoulder, Kara managed to get the crutches in the same hand as the small bag. "By the way, there are reporters downstairs."

"Why?" Lena asked.

"Someone must have leaked that you were getting out today," Kara replied.

"It was me," Kalia replied. "They offered me lots of money. You need to pay better, Miss Luthor."

"You told them—!?"

"Kara, she's joking," Lena said with a head shake. "Maybe they're not here for me."

"Kid, get the door," Kalia said as she stood behind Lena's wheelchair.

"My hands are full. They're full of stuff you gave me to carry," Kara replied, holding up her full hands as way of example.

"And mine are full of patient," Kalia replied, turning her hands over on the ends of the wheelchair. "Figure it out."

"I…" Kara sighed, putting down one of the bags and opening the door before picking the bag up again. "There."

"Thanks, doll," Kalia said as she pushed Lena's wheelchair through.

Hurrying after the other women, Kara said, "The reporters are definitely here for you, Lena. I tried to come in the front entrance, and one of them recognized me, and they just swarmed. They started to take pictures and asked me questions about your health. I almost barreled my way through them; they made me so mad. I controlled myself and used a…different…entrance."

Shaking her head at Kara, Lena said, "Smooth."

"Reporters suck," Kalia said.

"Well, these guys did. They were so rude!" Kara agreed. "Getting the story is one thing, but there's no reason to be rude."

"I've never met a reporter that wasn't an asshole. That whole, 'the public has a right to know' thing is bullshit. They're all just a bunch of self-righteous, self-serving, glory hounds," Kalia said as they came up to the elevator. "Kid, hit the down button." When Kara just stared at her, Kalia repeated, "Kid, the button. Hit it."

"Kalia, Kara's a reporter," Lena informed her.

"You are?"

" **Yes** ," Kara replied emphatically.

"Oh." Kalia nodded. "Down button."

"You waited outside my work for me one day."

"That building has like forty stories. Lots of companies rent there. Just use your finger and push. Just one finger. Extend it and push," Kalia urged.

"How did you not know what I do for a living? You've known me for like a month."

Kalia shrugged. "Are you going to hit the down button?"

"I know what you do for a living," Kara pointed out.

"Kid, you come to my work every day," Kalia countered. "You could be the worst reporter on the planet, and you would have figured that out. Now hit the damn down button already. Instead of telling how great you are for knowing what I do for a living, how about acting like you know?"

"I…Lena?" Kara asked as she stared down at the woman in the wheelchair.

Lena shrugged. "Well, I'd push it, but I can't reach it from here. Would you mind, darling?"

"Ugh." Pushing the down button, Kara stood silently refusing to speak again until they all piled into the elevator. "You should call your driver."

"Franklin?"

Kara nodded. "I can find us another entrance without reporters. Let's get you out of here without getting mobbed."

"Why?"

"Lena, they're going to take pictures of you and…" Kara shrugged.

"Is there something wrong with my makeup?"

"No, you look…" Kara eyed Kalia. "Fine. You look fine, Lena. You know everyone will want to ask you questions, though."

"Worried about losing your exclusive?"

"I was a witness. I can't interview you," Kara said with a sigh. "You know I wouldn't care about that anyway. Please be serious."

Gently squeezing Kara's wrist, Lena said, "I apologize. Kara, I'm a public figure. I lost my privacy the day I was adopted. It's not fair, but it's the truth. I don't care if people see me in a wheelchair. It's hardly embarrassing."

"But…" Kara paused, trying to articulate what was bothering her. "They're going to print things about you that aren't true."

"Daily," Lena replied with a laugh. "Kara, if you're going to be my friend, you'll see lies printed about me. Eventually, they'll stop bothering you."

"How can you say that?"

"Because I could read at four, and all these years later, the lies rarely bother me. I'm sorry if they hurt you. If you want me to sue anyone for libel, let me know. I have wonderful lawyers."

"Oh, I've met them," Kara said with a nod.

"Ah, not my finest moment. Sorry."

"Forget about that," Kara said stepping in the way of the doors as they opened. "Are you sure you don't want to take a different exit?"

"Kara, the lies they print don't matter. The truth we know does," Lena replied.

Kara caught sight of Kalia nodding and said, "Okay. If anyone gets out of hand, I'm moving them out of the way. Then they'll have some truth to print about me."

As the blonde stepped away and took the lead, Kalia pushed the wheelchair out and whispered, "You know, you could do worse than her if you did decide you wanted to date someone. I'm just saying."

"Even though she's a reporter?"

Kalia snorted. "To every rule, there's an exception."

Several feet in front of the other women, Kara smiled broadly. She stopped short of the exit from the hospital, the smile falling off her face as she turned to face Lena. "Ready?"

Lena nodded. When they got just short of the exit, she said, "Stop."

"There are a lot of them," Kara said with a knowing nod as she looked out at the crowd of gathered reporters. "We could just—"

"Crutches," Lena said, holding out her hand.

"What?"

"Kara, hand me my crutches," Lena said, snapping up one of her footrests with her foot.

"Lena, no," Kara replied, shaking her head. "This isn't PT. There's no safety rail and no spotter, and your car looks…gosh. It looks really far away."

"Kara, I promised you I'd walk out of this hospital. For better or for worse, a Luthor keeps their word. Crutches," Lena repeated.

"Lena, you don't have to."

"I know," Lena assured Kara. "I'm doing this because I want to. I'm doing this because I told you I would, and I…" Lena's gaze met Kara's and held it for several moments before she said, "Keeping my word matters, but keeping my word to you matters more. You matter. Now, give me my crutches."

Kara waited until she got Kalia's nod before she handed the crutches over to Lena. "I still don't like this."

"Under protest. Understood, Miss—" Lena startled when her wheelchair tipped backward, raising her feet, and then slid forward.

As she looked back, Kalia said, "We can get you five feet closer to the door, Miss Luthor."

Lena nodded. "Thank you. I expect I'll appreciate those five feet by the end of this jaunt." When the chair stopped, she snapped up the other footrest and pushed off the wheelchair arm rests to stand. Slipping the crutches over her forearms, Lena made sure she was steady before taking any steps.

"Kara," Kalia gestured toward the wheelchair. "Stow the luggage here and stay with her. Spot her."

"Oh! Yes," Kara said, quickly putting the bags on the seat of the wheelchair before taking off after the CEO.

As they got outside, Kara found herself taking the lead. Reporters circled, and Kara moved quickly from side to side, making sure that Lena had a path. Questions came at a furious buzz. Lights shone in the CEO's face, and cameras flashed.

One reporter called out, "Miss Luthor, are you expected to make a full recovery?"

Another yelled, "Lena, will you be returning to L-Corp, or turning things over to the board?"

Yet another asked, "Lena, what's your connection to Supergirl? Do you have a comment to her reaction to your being shot?"

Through each question, Lena kept her head high and concentrated on each step. She'd spent a lifetime dealing with this sort of questioning. The reporters continued their barrage, and though Lena seemed unaffected, Kara was nonplussed. The blonde seemed just about ready to get physical with the press of the press when a horn blared, and Lena's driver brought the car closer, causing reporters to flee or be struck. They wisely chose the former option.

Pulling the door open, Kara took one of Lena's crutches as the woman released it to grab the car and lower herself in. Closing the car door, Kara grabbed the wheelchair and luggage from Kalia, stowing it in the trunk quickly.

Holding the other door open, Kara looked at Kalia, but the nurse shook her head and said, "I'm taking my car. I'll need it. See you at the homestead, kid."

Nodding, Kara slid into the car and closed the door, closing out any reporters who tried to snap anymore photos.

Lena and Kara sat in the car next to each other. Palms pressed closely together; both studiously ignored the flash of cameras and the oppressive mass of reporters outside, all eager to get one more image of the stalwart CEO on her way out of the hospital. When Lena's driver had finally managed to maneuver his way out onto the road without making any of the reporters into a resident of said hospital, both Kara and Lena breathed sighs of reliefs.

"How are you doing?" Kara asked, breaking the silence that hung between.

Eyes still closed, a smile ghosted along Lena's lips. "Fine. Tired. If I fall asleep, wake me when we get home, won't you?"

"Home," Kara replied, returning that slight smile, then she managed a strangled, "Sure."

Turning to her side, the CEO opened her eyes and furrowed her brows as she asked, "Kara, are you crying?"

Nodding, the blonde pulled off her glasses and scrubbed at her eyes with the back of one hand.

"But, why? I hope you're not crying over me. I mean, I'm fine. I'm going home and—"

"Don't," Kara said interrupting someone who was a friend but had become so much more in the last month plus. "That's exactly why I'm crying, and I'm going to cry, so don't tell me to stop. You're fine, and you're going home. That's worth crying over. You're going home, Lena."

After several moments of silence, Lena said, "Oh." Gently pulling her hand free from Kara's, she put her arm around the other woman's shoulder and said, "Come here, darling."

Curling into Lena, Kara wrapped an arm around the other woman and repeated, "You're going home."

"Yes, I am," Lena agreed. For the first time since this all began, Lena just relaxed into someone and let herself feel it all, and let herself cry.


	37. Epilogue

**Act I Caïssa**

Coming in through the glass slider wearing a one piece bathing suit and with a towel wrapped around her waist, Kara made her way to the kitchen in Lena's house. In a wheelchair, Lena sat at the cutout portion of her kitchen island. She was slicing pieces of melon up and putting them in a bowl.

"Hey, let me do that," Kara said hurrying to assist.

"Kara, I can do this," Lena replied, gripping the knife tighter and shooting the blonde a warning look. "I'm quite capable you know."

"I know, but you could cut yourself."

"Only if someone distracts me."

Grinning and with her hands on her hips, Kara replied, "Oh, do you find me…distracting?"

Lena allowed her gaze to travel up and down Kara's form, giving special attention to the fit upper arms that were clearly exposed. Placing the knife on the table, she replied, "Yes, rather. You're a household accident waiting to happen. I thought you had to head into work this morning."

"I do," Kara agreed, leaning down and placing a gentle kiss on Lena's lips. "First I have someone to distract."

Pulling back suddenly, Lena said, "Kara, don't. Kalia's here."

Shaking her head, Kara said, "She's in her room reading. I can hear her. Relax. I'm being careful." Opening the fridge, Kara rummaged through it for a moment before coming out with some leftover chicken and pizza. "How long is she going to live here, anyway?"

"Until I don't need a nurse. Honestly, we've gone over this."

"You don't need a nurse. You've got me," Kara said around bites of pizza.

"Do you have a Doctorate of Nursing?"

Chewing thoughtfully on some pizza, Kara asked, "Is that a real thing?"

Lena nodded.

"Huh. No, I do not. However—"

"You just want to play doctor."

Kara smiled. "Guilty as charged. What is she actually doing here besides being grossly overpaid? She's making a ton, isn't she?"

"I expect more in a month than you make in a year, yes," Lena affirmed.

Dropped her pizza bone into the box, Kara said, "You're kidding me! Why is the board making you have a nurse?"

Lena shrugged. "It's in my contract. Until I'm cleared to go back to work, I need to have a nurse on hand full time. Oh, don't look so upset, Kara. So long as you're living here, you're eating for free."

A piece of chicken in hand, Kara pointed with it and said, "That's true. I bet you spend more on my food in a month than she makes in a month."

Nodding, Lena said, "Speaking of which, what do you want for dinner?"

"Ummm, Thai? You like Thai."

"Will you be home for lunch?"

Chewing the last of the chicken off the bone, Kara shook her head. Swallowing she said, "Probably not. I have a friend in town, and I haven't seen her in like a year. That is, unless you want me home for lunch. Do you?"

"No, it's fine. Go out with your friend. Have dinner with her if you like. I'll be fine."

"You're sure?" Kara grabbed the last piece of pizza from the box, taking several large bites.

"I'm so far behind on work, I could work every night for the rest of the year and still not catch up. Just let me know if you'll miss dinner, and I'll call Jess and see if she can meet me here."

"Poor Jess," Kara mumbled.

"What?"

"Yes, dear," Kara said, finishing her piece of pizza. She deposited the box into the trash, doing the same with the chicken box as she took the last piece of the chicken and ate it quickly. "I should know fairly soon. Of course, there could always be an emergency so…" Kara shrugged.

"That's just going to be our life, isn't it?"

"Is it a problem?"

With a small smile, Lena replied, "I wouldn't change a thing about you. Is Kalia still in her room?"

Pitching her ear toward the bedrooms down the hallway, Kara nodded.

With one finger, Lena beckoned Kara closer.

Tossing the chicken bone into the trash, Kara was suddenly on Lena's side and kneeling. "You called?"

"I did," Lena said, running her fingers through slightly damp hair. "I look forward to being able to really swim with you."

"Me too, especially when you don't have a house guest other than me."

"Mmmm." Leaning closer, Lena kissed Kara gently while gently scratching the back of the blonde's neck with one hand.

Seconds later, when the kiss broke, Kara said, "You know, maybe I don't have to go to work today."

"I thought it had something to do with national security?" Lena asked, laying another gentle kiss on Kara's lips.

"Mmmm." Kara returned the kiss, running one of her hands along Lena's side. "Yeah, but they can probably get another superhero to do that."

Lena chuckled. "There are so many of you."

"So, so…" Kara kissed Lena again. "So many. I'm surprised there's any crime at all."

"Then don't quite your day job," Lena replied, kissing Kara one final time, but this one was deep and long. When it finally ended she pushed Kara back, using her thumb to wipe along her lower lip and smiled as she watched the blonde's reaction. "Get to work, Supergirl."

"I think I'm already working."

Lena chuckled. "I'm going to do my PT today, so I can get healthier. You go do whatever it is that you do with your secret organization. Does it involve eating pizza?"

"Sometimes," Kara replied with a smile.

"Do my tax dollars pay for this pizza?"

"Well, gotta go. Duty calls!" Kara said, heading into the living room and making her way up the stairs.

"Really, Kara!?"

Seconds later from over the railing, Kara called down, "Hey, sometimes your tax dollars pay for doughnuts too!"

Lena shook her head, but she was smiling. She ate some of her melon slices until she saw a flash of red and blue zoom away from the house. She finished up the food, taking the dishes to the dishwasher and cleaning up. Pulling her phone from her purse, she sent a quick text and then headed toward her room.

Coming out of her bedroom, Kalia said, "I never heard the front door. That kid of yours is sneaky when she wants to be."

"She's not my kid," Lena said as she pushed her way into her room.

"Right, sorry, princess," Kalia said, pushing the chair in to help Lena. "I'll get your suit."

"Thank you, Kalia. I…I'm tense about today. I apologize if I'm snippy."

"You're always snippy," Kalia replied, bringing in a pants suit and laying it on the bed. "I wouldn't expect today to be any different."

"You're too kind. They didn't give you any indication as to why they were calling this meeting?"

Arms crossed, Kalia looked down at the younger woman. "You think they'd tell me if they didn't tell you? I'm lower on the totem pole than you. Let's remember our values here."

"I apologize….again."

Patting Lena on the shoulder, Kalia stepped past her and said, "I've got to get changed too. Text me when you're dressed or if your pants get stuck on your brace. The new suit should be big enough around the leg, but I know these things can give you a hard time sometimes."

Lena nodded, then turned and said, "Oh, Kalia, where is my—?"

"I've got it," Kalia assured Lena. "I'll bring both of ours. Hey, Lena relax. After everything you just went through, after the people we had to work with, I expect this is just a post-op evaluation. What's got you all worked up?"

"I…" smiling, Lena shook her head. "Do I really still need to be taking medication? I think it's making me paranoid."

"A paranoid Luthor? What are the odds of that?"

Lena laughed. "Indeed."

"Any pain from your incisions?"

"None. Honestly, none at all. Everyone said my healing is remarkable, unprecedented for the treatment. Oh, don't grimace at me woman. I'm doing well."

"I'm not grimacing," Kalia replied. "This is the way my face always looks. Fine, I'll reduce your medications. However, if you see any onset of pain or symptoms—"

"I'm no hero. I'll let you know."

Walking to the door, Kalia stopped and said, "You're in a wheelchair because you jumped between your friend and a gun. That's the definition of a hero. Just be a hero that gets dressed quickly, and call me if you get stuck."

Chuckling, Lena wheeled herself over the covered rug until she came next to the suit that lay on the bed. It was all white with wide pants legs. There was a matching white blouse that lay on a hanger next to it. Sitting on the floor next to the bed were a pair of short boots, also white. Running her hands along the silk blouse, Lena took one cleansing breath before beginning to undress.

 **Act II Scotch Game**

At the same time, both Kalia and Lena's phones buzzed. Wearing a white dress suit and comfortable white shoes, Kalia stood and came behind Lena's wheelchair. The nurse pressed a gentle hand on the younger woman's shoulder and waited for a nod of assurance before moving them both toward the elevator in the living room.

Once within the elevator, Lena held her thumb against the up button, not releasing it for close to a half minute. Finally, it flashed red. A panel dropped down from the ceiling, and she and Kalia both looked up. A red light came down, scanning down and across their faces. The panel closed up, and there was an electronic noise as both women waited.

Finally, a computer voice spoke, "Name and identifier."

Lena nodded.

Taking her cue, Kalie said, "Kalia Campbell, White Queen's Bishop."

There was another pause, and the voice said, "Acknowledged, welcome White Queen's Bishop. Name and Identifier."

Clearing her throat, Lena replied, "Lena Luthor, White Queen's Rook."

Again the voice paused before saying, "Acknowledged, welcome White Queen's Rook."

The elevator lurched into motion, and the ladies found themselves moving down, the opposite of the direction Lena had pushed. They went past the basement level and continued downward what felt like another two levels before stopping. The elevator opened to another room with doors on all sides. They went forward and waited for the elevator to close up behind them. When it had left, Kalia put a hand on the panel in front of her. It caused a light to come out of the door in front of them and scan down both of their faces again.

"You know, I think I'm barely tall enough for this thing right now," Lena griped.

"You're fine."

"Barely. I should complain to the ADA."

With a smirk, Kalia replied, "Bring it up in the meeting. I'll love hearing about that in the minutes later."

"I just might," Lena threatened deadpan making Kalia's smile grow.

At Kalia's head height, an eight-by-eight grid appeared. The two spots on the bottom middle were lit up. The one on either side of them were dark, and the next were lit up, and then the ones on the outside were dark. All the rest of the spots were dark.

"Who's here already?" Lena asked. "More damn issues with the placement. I can't see that high."

"You know, this is your house. You could have built it lower."

Lena looked to the left and grumbled. "Fine. Just tell me who's here."

"Well, since you asked so nicely…It's Oskana, Ahmed, Graziella, and Isobel."

Brows furrowed, Lena asked, "That's it? Just the king, queen, and both their knights? I knew none of the pawns were expected, but what about the other rook and bishop?"

"Lena, I don't know. If it's just the king, queen, and their knights, this is probably just a check in for you like I said before. I wouldn't sweat it." Kalia went to grab the knob and push open the now unlocked door, but Lena's hand on her arm made her stop. Looking down at the younger woman she said, "Kid, I swear; it's fine. I know these last few weeks have been harrowing, but don't sweat it. You're good."

Eyes closed, Lena swallowed hard before opening her eyes and nodding. She let Kalia open the door and followed the other woman into the room.

The room was well lit but with gentle lighting. In its middle was a rectangular table, wooden but with marble inset of alternating colors: tan and red/brown. The squares covered the length of the table being eight long by four deep. There were four chess pieces on the table, a white king and queen, and two white knights. Each was placed where they would be if this were half a board.

Four people sat in the room roughly behind where each chess piece sat. Behind the queen was a pale woman in her late thirties to early forties. She had short blonde hair, blue eyes, was tall and thin, and was saved from looking rather severe by a gentle smile that graced her lips. Behind the king was a man with brown skin, black hair and a neatly trimmed black beard and goatee, and black eyes that sparkled with mischief. Sitting near the man was a petite woman with red hair, tan skin, and green eyes. She was lovely and gave the newcomers an encouraging nod when they came in. On the blonde woman's side sat another woman, not as dark skinned as the man but close. She had volumes of dark hair piled on her head and spilling about. Her bosom was also full. Her red lips smirked as if she knew a secret, though she examined her nails as if they were more interesting than anyone else in the room.

Kalia and Lena both gave a slight head nod, Kalia withdrawing a white chess piece from each of her pockets: a bishop and a rook. She held them out and upon receiving a head nod in return from the blonde woman, she leaned across the table and put them down in place on the white queen's side of the board. Kalia took the empty seat that was available on the opposite side of the others, and Lena slid into place next to Kalia, both women waiting to see what came next.

"Lena, you look well. How are you feeling?" The blonde asked in a heavy Slavic accent.

"I feel wonderful, better every day. Thank you for asking, Oskana. How are you?"

"I can't complain. Well, I suppose I could, but who listens anyway, yes?" Oskana laughed at her joke, others smiling and laughing a bit. "And Kalia, you are well?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Oh, so dour as always." Oskana tsked. "You know, we have excellent doctors on staff. I offer this to you again if you want someone to talk to."

"No thanks. Doctors can't fix this."

Lena slid a hand under the table onto Kalia knee, squeezing once, then withdrew it.

"As you say again. Still, our offer stands, and we will continue to make it. Perhaps one day you will continue to care as much for your own well-being as others do." When the nurse didn't respond, Oskana held out a hand to her left, and the dark-haired woman placed a file into it. "Thank you, Isobel. Now, Lena, your recovery is going so very well. This pleases us. Full range of motion, no pain reported at your most recent examination, strength at sixty-seven percent." She nodded several times then closed the folder, handing it back. "This is good. We are pleased."

"We are more pleased," Lena said with a broad smile.

"Stand."

Nodding, the young Luthor snapped up her footrests while Kalia stood behind her and locked the wheelchair in place. Lena carefully pushed up on the armrests to come to a fairly steady standing position.

"I, um, I don't have my crutches so if you want me to walk—"

"No, no," Oskana said, gesturing the young woman back toward a seated position in the wheelchair which she didn't hesitate to take. "We've seen the videos. Still, seeing it in person is impressive. The bullet, it went through, yes?"

Snapping her second footrest into place, Lena sat up and replied, "Through my spinal cord, yes. It severed the cord. I was paralyzed."

"But no more," Isobel said, examining her fingernails once again.

Oskana tutted at the woman to her right.

"No more," Lena agreed.

"It's a miracle." Oskana grinned.

"It's science," Lena countered. "A miracle takes a miracle worker, and I did not have one of those. Speaking of which; I had a visitor at the hospital. He was not on my approved list, and Kalia had no authority to stop him. I'm assuming the white board didn't approve a visit from the black king?"

Turning sharply to her right, Oskana looked to the man there and asked, "Ahmed?"

Ahmed shook his head, his posture sharpening while his palms pressed against the edge of the table. "We did not. What did he want?"

Lena rolled her eyes before answering. "To gloat, brag, be obnoxious. What does he ever want? He was rude and overbearing, and he wanted to remind me that I was now in his debt and needed to follow through on a business deal with him, as if in some world we would renege on a deal we'd struck with the black."

"That was it? He did not mention Alexandra Danvers?" Oskana asked.

"Alex Danvers?" Lena shook her head. "I know they have some history, but apparently it was just her investigating him as an FBI agent. It's nothing relevant." When Oskana and Ahmed looked at each other, Lena asked, "What is it? What am I missing?"

"It's nothing, a matter of the black side of the board. Do not worry about it," Ahmed replied. "He didn't…make any overtures to you?"

Lena's eyes narrowed on the man, mouth opening as if to ask a question but closing and then opening as she replied, "He couldn't. There was a civilian present. Anyway, I've made my feelings known—"

"Kara Danvers?" The redhead asked.

"I…" Lena nodded. "She's a friend of mine."

"I would hope so. You don't go getting shot for stranger's do you Lena?" Ahmed smiled, but he raised his eyebrows and leaned forward again as he spoke.

"Well, I don't intend to get shot for anyone ever again. It's highly unpleasant. I don't recommend it." Lena's smile was easy, and there was only the slightest trail of a quiver to her voice.

"Lena, I sent you the paperwork to register a relationship. You did not fill it out. Do you have it with you?" Oskana asked.

"There's no need."

"You and Miss Danvers—"

"It was a misunderstanding," Lena said, interrupting the blonde. "Kara is my friend, a very dear friend but just a friend. There is nothing more intimate than that. I'm not registering for any sort of relationship with her. There's no need to—" Lena shook her head. "She's no further part of my life."

"Lena, she comes to your house. She stays at your house." Oskana smiled kindly. "We do not care if this Kara Danvers has tax issues or even legal issues of some kind that do not threaten members of our organization. When we investigate a potential partner—"

"Kara sleeps upstairs." Lena nodded, waiting until Oskana nodded back. "She doesn't stay over all the time, and when she does, she sleeps upstairs. Kalia sleeps in the room next to mine. Kara's only coming over out of guilt. She's just guilty because I was shot. I'm sure it won't continue."

"Kara sleeps upstairs?" Looking at Kalia, Oskana repeated, "Kara sleeps upstairs?"

"Yeah, and she makes a crap load of noise, too," Kalia replied. "For a skinny girl, she has damn heavy feet. She plays her music too loud, too. Lena, talk to that kid about her music, won't you? Some of us aren't twenty-something, and you need to sleep to heal."

With a small smile, Lena said, "I'll do that, Kalia. I didn't know she was keeping you awake. I'm so tired. Lately, I sleep like a log."

"One thing about Kara though." Kalia paused and everyone, especially Lena, listened attentively. "She's got a thing for our bishop here. It's entirely one-sided, and maybe it will pass once Lena is back moving around at 100%, but the kid is crushing big time."

"It's one-sided?" Oskana clarified.

Eyes closed, Kalia nodded quickly before opening her eyes. "I mean, it's Lena. She's all about work. When have you seen her involved with someone when it wasn't part of a job?"

Lena shrugged. "I have my priorities."

"You mean your family," Ahmed said.

"Ahmed." Oskana shook her head.

"Why would you bring up my family?"

"Lena, it's nothing," Oskana assured her.

"No, I want to know. Why would anyone in this room bring up my family, and why him? My deal is with you, Oskana."

"Your deal is with the white side of the board," Ahmed said. "So long as you keep your side of the deal, we'll keep your family safe."

"What the hell does that mean?" Lena's voice pitched a little bit higher.

"I'm merely pointing out—"

Lena spoke over the man. "How have I not kept my side?"

"Lena, kid, relax," Kalia said gripping the other woman's arm.

"No, I have done everything this organization has asked of me since the day I joined up. I did what you asked me to do with Jack. I did what you asked me to do with Luthor Corp. I did it all to keep my family safe. I did it all under the express condition that you would protect my family." With each sentence Lena gripped her chair, jerking and moving it.

"And we have, from everyone but themselves," Ahmed said casually.

"You are not helping." Oskana's eyes widened at the man next to her.

"My family is off limits!" Lena's hand shot out, her chair rocking slightly forward with her anger.

"Okay, everyone stop!" Stepping partway between Lena and the others, Kalia grabbed Lena's wrist as she looked at her own watch. About thirty seconds later she nodded. "Yeah, we're done here."

Head jerking back, Ahmed said, "Excuse me? You do not call these meetings to a close any—"

Stepping behind Lena, Kalia unlocked the wheelchair as she wheeled the other woman around. "Oh, you can keep having your meeting. My patient is done here, and I'm taking her out. I told you people, this was too early for a meeting for her. She only left the hospital three days ago. You didn't want to listen to me, so this is what you get." She pushed Lena to the door but stopped after pushing it open. "Seriously, after all, she's been through lately, what were you thinking bringing her brother and daughter into this? Even her mother…" Kalia sighed. "We don't do that. Have some respect."

When the two women left, Oskana looked at Ahmed and said, "Well, that could have gone better, yes?"

"Are you blaming me?"

She stood up. "Yes. That was unclear somehow?"

"I think they're hiding something. I also think Kalia needs to learn her place."

Smirking as she stood by the blonde, Isobel looked at the man and said, "Well, I think our ex-queen made some excellent points. Perhaps someone is just intimidated by a strong woman. Perhaps he should get over it since he is surrounded by them."

Standing, Ahmed glared at her and said, "Perhaps you should learn your place."

"Oh, I know my place. It's underneath a strong woman." Isobel grinned. "And I like it."

As she strolled out the door, Ahmed said, "You should put a muzzle on her."

"A muzzle?" Oskana shook her head. "A leash perhaps, but never a muzzle. You worry about your half of the board. Leave me to mine."

After they were gone, Ahmed turned to the redhead, his eyes flashing.

"Uh-oh," Graziella said. "I don't like that look in your eyes."

"I have a plan."

"I hate it."

"You don't even know what it is," he said.

"Of course I do. It's a plan where I have to do all the work."

Smiling, he nodded. "You're right. You do know what it is."

Lolling her head back, Graziella moaned.

As he slid an arm around her shoulders, Ahmed walked with the redhead to the door. "Come on. I'll buy you lunch and tell you all about the work you're going to do for me."

 **Act III Crime & Punishment**

As Alex walked into the DEO, Winn jumped up from the seat as his desk and ran after her, "Hey! Hey, hey, hey!"

"What!?" She asked, spinning on him.

"That's not very friendly."

"Winn, when has the word friendly been synonymous with me?"

One finger raised, Winn dropped it and nodded. "Fair. Anyway, what do you know about this?" He held up his phone showing her a picture.

Taking the phone, she examined the image briefly. "It's a picture of a toy. It looks gay and not in the good way." She handed it back to him and began to walk away again.

"Alex, that's homophobic," Winn replied, holding his phone close to his chest as he hurried after Alex again.

Stopping suddenly, Alex turned and walked directly at Winn until he was flat against the wall and her face was perhaps two inches from his. Her voice was a quiet growl. "Dude, at this point I've eaten more pussy in my lifetime than you have. I'm a highly intelligent, highly motivated, highly trained, and dangerous government agent, but I am in no way homophobic. Are we good with that?"

"Heh, heh, maybe more, but it's the same…" When Alex's eyes moved slightly, perhaps in warning, Winn froze up and just swallowed.

"Go ahead, say it," she challenged. "I dare you to say it."

He shook his head. "I'm good."

Patting him on the shoulder, she whispered in his ear, "That's because you are the pussy." She continued down the hallway again at a good clip.

"So you didn't send me this?" Winn asked as he jogged after her, holding out his phone.

"Why would I send you a picture of a doll?"

"It's an action figure, and someone sent me the actual action figure. It arrived in the mail this morning."

"Pussy," she mumbled. "No, Winn, I didn't send you an action figure. Why would you even ask me that?"

"Well, you knew I wanted it, and I asked James, and he didn't—"

"What do you mean I knew you wanted it?" She asked over her shoulder as she turned the corner.

"Oh! Yeah, this is the one I almost got snake venomed over. See, it has the telescoping lightsaber, and it's original mint in its package. Did you know there are only—?"

Hand in front of his face, Alex stopped in front of a door. "This is my stop, and I was sorry I asked about your doll—"

"Action figure."

"Even before I asked. Is Kara here yet?"

"No. I even told her we had doughnuts. It's not like her to be late for doughnuts. You think she's okay? She's been kind of…you know, lately."

Alex nodded. "I'm getting kind of worried about her. I stopped by her apartment two nights ago. She wasn't in, and there was no food in the refrigerator."

"No…food? Are you sure you were in the right place?"

"Right? She's been really hard to pin down lately. She bolts out after missions, and she turned me down for a movie night last night. I'd offered a double header of a musical and a rom-com. I think she's still holding a grudge about what happened when Lena was in the hospital. Well, at least I know she'll be here today."

"Right," Winn agreed. "You two will be all right. Your bond is unbreakable. You're sisters."

Alex nodded. "Thanks, Winn. I'll catch you later. Oh, nice…action thing."

"It's awesome, right! I'm so excited. You can practically smell The Force on it."

As Winn walked away grinning, Alex shook her head. "What a strange little man." She entered J'onn's office, smiling at the two people within but tensing as the atmosphere in the room caught up to her. "J'onn, Lucy, I was looking forward to seeing you, but why does it feel like I've been called to the principal's office?"

J'onn nodded, taking a seat behind his desk. "Agent Danvers, won't you please sit down?"

"Agent Danvers?" Alex shook her head as she pulled up a chair and sat. "Well, that's not a good start to this conversation." As Lucy Lane sat next to her, pulling files out of a briefcase, Alex asked, "And why is Lucy here?"

"I'm your legal counsel," Lucy replied.

"What the…!?" Alex was on her feet, heart pounding. "Am I being court marshaled?"

"Alex, please sit," J'onn instructed.

"No." Alex shook her head, trying to steady her breathing. "Answer my God damn question, J'onn! We've worked together for too long, had each other's backs too often. J'onn, life and death, we've been the difference of life over death to each other more than once, so just tell me, am I being court marshaled?" Alex stared imploringly.

With eyes turning equally soft, the Martian stared back at the person who was both his finest agent and his daughter in the ways that mattered. He looked from Alex to Lucy, and it was his turn to make a silent request with just his expression.

One hand touching Alex's wrist, Lucy gently tugged until Alex met the smaller woman's gaze. Nodding toward the chair again, Lucy said, "Agent Danvers…Alex, you're not being court marshaled. Now sit down."

"Jesus fucking Christ!" Alex dropped down into the chair. "You could have started with that. You two just cost me ten years from my life. Phew. Okay, so why am I here?"

Opening one of the files she had placed on J'onn's desk, Lucy said, "Agent Danvers, I'm advising you fully to comply here and answer all questions openly and honestly. It will work out for you best in the long run. Do you recognize these?"

"Fully comply? Okay, now you're scaring me again," Alex said leaning over the files on the desk. She began to leaf through some papers, tensing up as she understood what this was all about. "Um…yeah. Yeah, I do. These are Lena Luthor's medical records."

Lucy nodded. "And how do you know that?"

"Mother fucker," Alex whispered. "I thought we were good with…I accessed them."

"How?" Lucy asked.

"How the fuck do you think?"

"Alex," J'onn warned.

"Fine," Alex said. "I used DEO resources to gain access to Miss Luthor's medical records, but you already know that."

"Did you act alone?" Lucy asked.

"Yes," Alex answered immediately.

"You're certain about that?" Lucy probed again.

"Absolutely."

Lucy nodded, looking over at J'onn who didn't react, just sat back with his arms crossed. "Did you access this information as part of an approved DEO mission?"

"No but…" Alex shook her head.

"Go ahead," Lucy said. "You can speak on your behalf.

"Luce, I wasn't trying to dig up any dirt on Lena. I don't know why I'm here or what anyone told you, but I was worried about her, for her."

Alex looked from Lucy to J'onn. The Martian nodded once with a slow blink. It was support and it helped. Eyes shifting to Lucy, his mouth shifted, but he didn't say anything. His lack of disagreement was helping.

Though flustered, Alex reminded herself these were her people and continued, "Look, I observed something medically with Lena, and I felt that as a doctor, I needed to act. I got a call from Kara who said Lena's doctor was in the middle of treating Lena for neurogenic shock. I rushed over to the hospital. Given Lena's spinal injury and Kara's description of the symptoms, that diagnosis was completely consistent with what one would expect to see. However, less than an hour later, Lena's medical staff walked out of the room. Kara was a wreck, so I talked to the doctor. Lena was out of shock. Great. I mean, I was hopeful given how quickly Kara was able to get Lena medical attention, but still, I was worried. Neurogenic shock kills. So we went into the room, and there was Lena…awake…talking."

When Alex didn't continue, Lucy asked, "And this was unusual?"

With a humorous laugh, Alex ran her hand through her hair. "Unusual? You bet your sweet ass it was. She should have been unresponsive. I wouldn't have been surprised to see her in a coma again. She was fine the next day. She was even better the next day. What we saw was…It was medically impossible. I don't know what her doctors were doing, but whatever they were doing, they weren't disclosing it. They were lying."

Lucy and J'onn exchanged a look of concern before Lucy said, "So you investigated Lena's doctors."

"Yes. I wasn't trying to invade Lena's privacy. I realize I did that, but that wasn't my intention. She was paralyzed in a hospital room with doctors doing experiments on her. If that had been you, would you have wanted someone looking out for you?"

"So you were just looking out for Miss Luthor?" Lucy clarified.

Alex nodded. "She took two bullets for my sister."

"Your sister is bulletproof," Lucy pointed out.

"Lena didn't know that. Also, she protected Kara's secret identity. She protected Supergirl. Sure, I crossed a line, but I did it for the right reason. Anyway, I was right. Look," Alex started to dig through the reports, flipped folder after folder open when she didn't find what she wanted. "Son of a bitch."

"What is it?" J'onn asked.

"Is this everything you have?" Alex asked.

Lucy nodded. "What's wrong?"

"Lena's earlier MRI is missing, the one showing her spinal cord was severed. They repaired it. Her doctor repaired it," Alex said, looking up and looking between J'onn and Lucy.

J'onn shook his head. "Alex, that's not possible. Humans can't—"

"That's my point, J'onn. Those nerves don't heal on a human. Also, her medical staff are using aliases. Doctor Patricia Queen's last name is actually Grace-Colby. Then there was nurse Jake Bishop, and the other nurse was Kalia…Kalia…"

"This Kalia, describe her," Lucy said.

"Kalia?" Alex shrugged. "Huh, okay, well right handed, average frame with good musculature, two scars on the back of her right hand, favored knee strikes and kicks, great joint locking techniques, balance was—"

"Alex," J'onn interrupted. "What did she look like?"

"Oh! Uh, about 5'4" with brown hair and eyes. She had an average build, but she was fit. In her mid-thirties, fairly attractive I guess. She only smiled when…she kicked my ass or was insulting me," Alex admitted.

"She kicked your ass?" Lucy grinned. "I think I know her."

"You do?" Alex sat up straighter. "No fucking way is she a nurse."

"Oh, she's a nurse. She was also one of my combat instructors at West Point. She's a Marine, a highly decorated one. Something happened to her while she was away on a mission." Lucy shook her head, a frown setting in.

"Did she get injured?" Alex inquired.

"No, nothing like that actually happened to her. It was something she found out while she was on her mission. I don't know what it was. All I know is she requested to leave the mission and was denied. The way I hear it, things almost came to blows with her and her CO. She ended up staying, completed her mission, but everything was a mess after that. For all I know she ended up leaving the military. It's a shame, too. She was a lifer."

Alex nodded, trying to figure out how a military, or ex-military nurse, could possibly fit into all of this. "Okay, so now what? I'm telling you, there's some kind of conspiracy going on. Is this coming back on me now?"

"Agent Danvers…"

"Just tell me, Luce. How bad is it?"

Lucy sighed. "Thank you for being forthcoming with us. J'onn, do you have any follow-up questions for Agent Danvers?"

"None," J'onn replied. "Agent Danvers believes what she says, and believed she was acting in Miss Luthor's best interests at the time of her actions."

Exhaling, Lucy reached out and grasped Alex's forearm.

"Okay, why do I feel like my head just got pulled back from the chopping block?" Alex asked.

"Alex." J'onn stood, walking the length of the room back and forth before he spoke again. "Several days ago we were contacted by another organization within the intelligence community. They made us aware of one of our agent's illegally gathering data on a civilian using DEO resources. They called for that agent's immediate resignation."

"I…" Alex shook her head. "Please?"

"Alex, it's going to be okay," Lucy assured her.

"Lucy, this is my life. This place, you guys are my family. Please don't make me leave," Alex begged. "I know I screwed up but—"

"Alex," J'onn began.

"Has anyone spoken to Lena?" Alex stood. "She told me to back off, and I did. I dropped it. I haven't looked into it any further, and I haven't bothered her. Talk to Lena."

"Alex, this isn't coming from Miss Luthor."

"Well, then who the fuck is this coming from J'onn!?" Alex slammed her palm down on the table. "Are you telling me some random government agency came in and is demanding my resignation over one stupid computer search I did of some rich bitch? I don't think so! Who was it: NSA, DIA, NGIA? Wait, are you sure this is even coming from our government? Could this be MI5?"

"Alex, you need to breathe!" Lucy had jumped to her feet.

"How the fuck can—!?"

"Agent Danvers, that is an order! Stand down!" Lucy barked.

Hands behind her back and feet splayed, Alex stood at parade rest.

"Okay, better." Lucy nodded. "Now just take a seat and let us tell you how we're going to make this a tenable situation before you go being all…" Lucy rolled her hand in front of herself. "All Alex all over us."

"Tenable as in I'm not being fired?"

"Tenable as in sit down, shut up, and listen to the people who are here to help you for once in your fucking life."

"Sorry," Alex mumbled.

His lips twisting into a semblance of a grin, J'onn said, "You do have a way with your clients. It's interesting that you went into law instead of medicine, Major Lane. You would have had a wonderful bedside manner."

"My bedside manner!?" Pointing at Alex, Lucy added, "She's a doctor! Imagine her…"

As Lucy pulled another file out of her briefcase, J'onn scratched over one eyebrow with his finger. "You know, when you think things this loudly, I can still hear you."

"Right, right," Lucy said still pulling out paperwork, and putting other paperwork away, preparing herself while she spoke to J'onn but didn't look up. "Why do I bother trying to censor myself around you?" She clicked a pen open, handing it over to Alex and smiling at the agent. "Okay, you're going to sign where I tell you to sign, and you're not going to argue with me. You're going to be happy that we managed to get you this deal and save your job. No one but you or your sister would still be here after this, understand?"

Wide-eyed, Alex nodded, and her eyes shifted back and forth between Lucy and J'onn.

"I was either yelling at someone or begging someone to help me out here. Both my knees and my throat were raw by the time I was done, and I didn't have nearly as much fun this time as the last time I ended up in that situation." Turning and leaning her palms on the desk, Lucy smiled at J'onn. "How'd you enjoy that mental image?"

Grimacing. J'onn couldn't suppress a shudder. "I'll never look at Mr. Olsen the same way again."

"Ha! Serves you right you mental voyeur." Pointing to a paper on J'onn's desk, Lucy said, "Alex, this acknowledges that you acted alone without knowledge of anyone else within the DEO and without authorization from the DEO as an entity. Don't sign it yet." She pulled out another sheet of papers, flagged for signature. "This acknowledges that you accessed Miss Luthor's medical records without her prior authorization."

"Wait, that's in question? Why would Lena ask that?"

"She wouldn't," J'onn pressed a finger against the surface of his desk. "It's our personal opinion, and this doesn't leave this office, that although you are being personally targeted through Miss Luthor, she is also a target in this investigation."

"How? I mean, how is that even possible? These are her private medical records. She can do what she wants with them…right?" Alex looked from J'onn back to Lucy again. "Wait, you never said which government agency this was."

"We don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know, Luce? We're the DEO. How can we not know? We know things. That's what we do. We know things, and we keep people from knowing those things. We're the government." With a dramatic sigh, she leaned back in her chair again. "How high up the food chain did you have to go with this?"

"Olivia Marsdin," Lucy replied.

"You had to go to the President of the United States?" Alex ran a hand through her hair again. "Who the fuck are these people?"

"Just be glad you were instrumental in saving her life recently, and that she's very fond of your sister. Anyone in this organization whose last name wasn't Danvers…" Lucy shrugged. "They wouldn't still be in this organization."

Alex opened her mouth but closed it again, apparently thinking better of whatever she was going to say.

Putting another grouping of papers on top of the pile she was asking Alex to sign, Lucy said, "This agrees that you will not do any further investigation on Miss Luthor or her medical staff—"

"Done and done," Alex muttered.

Lucy cleared her throat. "Alex, they're not fooling around here. They wanted to add, 'Under penalty of treason' to this, but we went back and forth, pushing for due cause until they dropped that clause."

One finger raised, Alex asked, "Isn't the penalty for treason death?"

Smiling, Lucy replied, "Say, thank you, Lucy."

"Fuck, yeah, thanks, Lucy."

"You're welcome, Agent Danvers."

"Alex, stay away from Miss Luthor's medical records and her medical staff," J'onn advised."

"Yeah, no problem. I like living."

Dropping the last grouping of papers on top of the others, Lucy pointed to the signature area. "You're not going to like this part."

"Ugh. After treason, I'm not going to like this part?" Alex shook her head. "Just say it."

"Keep in mind this was the best deal we could get you, and it takes the possibility of treason off the table and removes your forced resignation." Lucy waited for Alex to nod before saying, "By signing this, you agree to a three-month suspension without pay."

"I…" Alex shook her head, looking over at the Martian. "J'onn?"

"Sign it Alex."

"But—"

"Sign it," he repeated. "Lucy and I have both pulled every string there was to pull for you. If there was a favor, we called it in. You're keeping your career, your rank, even your pay grade. This is a good deal."

"But I did jack shit! This is bullshit!"

"We know, Alex!" J'onn's hand slammed down on the desk. "Lucy and I have known for a week. Yes, you crossed a line. Yes, you deserve to have your hand slapped, but unless the civilian in question is complaining, there's nothing to do. Someone has it in for you, someone powerful."

"Who?"

"Who have you pissed off?" Lucy asked.

"No one," Alex assured the other woman. "People like me."

"Alex." Lucy shook her head, her voice a study in disappointment.

"Fine." Alex sighed. "So I might have…irked a few people in my lifetime. I don't exactly have Kara's personality, but who dislikes me this much? Anyone who dislikes me this much is in holding here…right?"

"Apparently not," J'onn replied. "All we can do right now is sign the paperwork, and Alex…next time you come to me first. I can't have your back unless I know what's going on. You're my right hand. You're practically my daughter. You don't go behind my back again. Do we understand each other?"

Opening and closing her mouth, Alex dropped her face and nodded. Her voice was barely audible. "Sorry, J'onn."

"Financially, will you be all right?"

"I'm fine," Alex replied, grabbing the pen from the desk and signing on the line near each stickered tag.

"Alex, if you need—"

"J'onn, I'm fine. Kara may need to buy her own potstickers for a few months, and I'm sure you'll have to deal with that drama, but I'll be fine." Alex looked at Lucy. "Does anything in here say I can't consult while I'm suspended?"

Lucy shook her head. "What do you have in mind?"

"I don't know," Alex said, returning to the paperwork. "I have a gun and a medical degree. Maybe I'll drum up some business for myself." She signed the final piece of paper with a flourish. "So, that's it? I'm just…done?"

"Badge," J'onn said.

Pulling it out of her pocket, she dropped it on his desk.

"Gun."

Alex winced. "Ouch. Okay, that hurts, J'onn."

"You have more," he reminded her.

"Sure, but she and I have been through so much together." Pulling out the clip, Alex placed the weapon and it separately on the desk.

"She?"

Before Alex could speak, Lucy pointed at the weapon on the desk. "J'onn, look at her. She's sleek, fashionable, precise, has great lines, is powerful but not overpowering, looks good in silver and black, she's incredibly dangerous in the wrong hands…or the right hands. Mmmm, damn I want to get my hands on her."

"Right," Alex agreed, leaning both palms on the desk, her pose matching Lucy's.

"You both need to leave my office." J'onn pointed toward the door.

"I don't think I take orders from you," Alex replied.

"You realize you will again in three months," J'onn reminded her.

"Oh, uh…"

"Come on. Let's go out for drinks," Lucy said, piling the paperwork back into her bag.

"Sounds great," Alex said. "Someone with a job is buying, right?"

"Yup. Come on, J'onn. Let's help Alex drown her sorrows."

"I'm working."

"Nope. You're drinking," Lucy said, striding toward the exit and trusting that the others would follow.

As the trio reached the main room of the DEO, Supergirl with a doughnut in hand and a half a one in mouth, hopped off the table where she was chatting with Winn. She bounced over to the newcomers. It took a few seconds for the girl of steel to finish off the bakery item in her mouth though she smiled the whole time.

Swallowing hard, the blonde grabbed her diminutive friend up in a hug "Lucy! How's my favorite lawyer?"

"Put me down."

"Oops. Sorry." Gently placing the other woman down, Supergirl asked, "Why didn't we know you were coming into town?"

"Not here," Alex replied before anyone else could. "Alien bar. Let's go."

As Alex strode by, Kara followed asking, "Alien bar? Why are we going to the alien bar? Is this a case? Is someone under attack?"

"No, go change into something less leotard and more cardigan," Alex said, never breaking stride.

"Come on, Winn," Lucy said as she and J'onn followed the sisters out.

"I'm working!" He yelled over his shoulder.

"That's an order!" Lucy yelled back.

"Oh. Oh!" Fumbling a bit, Winn, hurried to log out. As he stood, he looked around. "No one…Don't touch my console. No one touch it while I'm gone."

Vasquez let him go with a head shake, sliding into his seat and logging into his system without even so much as a backward look.

 **Act IV Dollywood**

"Wait, I still don't get it." Forearms on the table and mouth hanging slightly open, Kara blinked rapidly. "Lena did or didn't get you suspended from the DEO?"

"Jesus Christ. Have another drink." Alex leaned across the table, pouring another shot of Aldebaran Rum into Kara's glass. "I'm sure it will become much clearer after you drink that."

Downing the shot, Kara smile. "Mmmm. Warm." She looked to her left, smiling at J'onn who in turn sighed to Lucy who sat on his left.

"Perfect," Alex said. "So I was thinking—"

"Danvers!"

Holding up a hand, Alex smiled.

Maggie strode up, sliding into the empty seat next to Alex where Winn had sat earlier and kissing the redhead soundly. "Okay, now why did I need to get my ass down here ASAP? What's going on?"

"First, Maggie, Lucy Lane. Luce, this is my girlfriend, Maggie Sawyer."

"I've heard a lot about you. It's nice to finally meet you, Maggie."

"Hey," Maggie replied.

Alex elbowed Maggie roughly, jostling the smaller girl halfway out of the booth. "What the fuck was that.

"Easy! What did I do?" Maggie asked as she righted herself in the booth.

"I heard what you said."

"All I said was, 'Hey.'"

Alex shook her head. "Nope. You said, 'Hey.'" Alex said the word slowly, letting her eyebrows rise and fall as she smiled at Lucy.

"What the…I did not. Guys, back me up here." Looking around the table, Maggie nodded.

"Your tone did hold a certain, inflection." J'onn took a sip of his drink as he mumbled, "Let's not even get into your thoughts."

"Maggie, you're a flirt, a flirty flirt-flirt. You say flirty things in flirty ways." Kara looked down into her empty glass before meeting the detective's gaze again. "Flirt."

"People really pay you for your skillful way with words?" Maggie asked.

Smiling goofily, Kara nodded.

"Damn, how much did she have to drink?"

"It really doesn't take that much," Alex replied.

"More, please," Kara said pushing her empty glass across to her sister.

Smiling at the other woman, Maggie said, "Lucy, tell them I didn't say anything wrong."

Head tilting to the side; Lucy replied, "Your dimples are cute."

"Ha!" Alex's finger hovered obnoxiously in her girlfriend's field of vision.

"I'm getting a beer."

As Maggie left the table, Winn and a blonde alien with ridges between her eyes and across the bridge of her nose and cheeks arrived. Winn made introductions. "Lucy, this is my girlfriend, Lyra. Lyra, meet Lucy Lane."

Lucy extended a hand. "Nice to meet—"

Lyra tensed, darting closer suddenly. "Human female, are you heterosexual?"

"Excuse me?" Lucy asked.

"The same-sex pairing is no threat, and the Kryptonian is obviously of no interest."

"That would be me," Kara said, her head down on the table.

"You, however, are a female of the same species as Winslow. I believe you to be an above average representative of your species from a purely aesthetic standpoint. What you lack in stature you perhaps make up for in…hormone production."

"Hormone production?" Lucy rose to her feet.

"Ladies…ladies, let's be calm. I'm not worth fighting over." Winn tried to step in the way as Lucy advanced on Lyra.

"You sure as shit aren't," Lucy said, slapping Winn in the gut.

"Ouch." He winced.

"So, little human, you should be aware that this human male is my mate. As such, I have claimed him and will fight all challengers to the death." Lyra stared down a few inches at Lucy.

Lucy stretched her neck. "Relax you space britches. I'm not challenging you for him."

With a slight hiss, Lyra asked, "Why because you don't find him a worthwhile mate?"

Giving Winn a once over, Lucy returned her gaze to Lyra and replied, "Of course I find him a worthwhile mate. Who wouldn't find him a worthwhile mate?"

"You…you do? Wow! Cool! I mean, not cool! Bad!" Winn leaned in close to Lucy and whispered, "Do you really?"

"Winn!" Alex cocked her head to the side. "Get over here before one of them accidentally kills you."

"Ah. Good point." Rubbing the back of his neck, Winn slid to the side and moved over into the seat Maggie had vacated.

"If he is so worthy, then why do you not challenge me for him? Are you already mated?" Lyra asked.

"No, but I'm a soldier, a woman of honor. He's your mate, and I respect your claim. To do otherwise would be to dishonor myself. To honor your relationship is to honor myself."

"Little soldier." Lyra stared at Lucy for several heartbeats, then broke out into a broad grin as she slapped the human on both shoulders at once. "I like you! I am very glad I will not have to kill you and then my mate for voiding the boundaries of our relationship. Come, Winn, let us go to the bar to get drinks."

As she grabbed his arm and yanked him to his feet, Winn stumbled away. "Kill…kill my mate? Kill me? …help."

Rubbing her arms, Lucy took her seat again. "She's fun. Does she really have sex with him and not kill him?"

"Ugh! Lucy, I was drinking!" Alex held out a hand. "Tell me to turn off my visuals before you say anything about Winn and sex."

"Alex. Alex. Alex."

"What, Kara?"

"Alex, look at me."

"I'm looking at you."

"No, look at me."

"Kara, I'm looking right at you. You're still face down on the table."

"Hmmm?" Head and shoulders still on the table, Kara opened her eyes and wiggled her fingers. "Hello, hand."

"Okay, that was fucking rude," Maggie said as she walked up shaking one of her arms. "That's alcohol abuse, Winn! Anyone have a napkin?"

"Here." J'onn grabbed one from the middle of the table.

"Thanks." Wiping her sleeve, Maggie said, "Winn grabbed my arm and spilled my beer. He was saying his girlfriend was going to kill him."

Lucy laughed. "What did you say?"

"I told him to join the club." Looking at the seat next to Alex, she asked, "You still pissed, or can I sit here?"

"Both."

Maggie slid into the spot on the booth.

"Alex."

"Oh, for fuck's sake, Kara! What is it, already!?"

Pulling herself upright and putting a hand on her sister's check, Kara said, "Lena wouldn't do that."

"Lena wouldn't do what?" Maggie asked.

"Lena would get Alex treasoned," Kara explained.

"Treasoned isn't a word." Maggie sipped her beer. "What did I miss?"

"Argh! This planet has sooooo many languages. Why does this planet have to have so many languages?" Kara lay back in the booth dramatically before lolling her head forward again. "She wouldn't…wouldn't…verrat, trahison, pànnì, izmena, traición."

"That's Spanish! Up high!" Maggie said, holding her hand up.

"No!" Alex grabbed Maggie's arm, pulling it down. "Never high-five a drunk Kara. That will get you a broken hand."

"Thanks." Maggie took another sip of her beer. "What's going on with Lena and treason? Is Lena being accused of treason?"

"No!" Alex, J'onn, and Lucy all said at the same time.

"Hey, don't bite my head off bitches…and J'onn, though J'onn, you're my bitch too."

"I…thank you? That was a compliment, correct?" The Martian asked.

"In this company, absolutely," Maggie replied clinking her bottle against J'onn's glass. "Someone just catch me up. I'm at least three beers and one hell of a story behind."

"I got this," Lucy said grabbing a few empty bottles, glasses, and the salt and pepper shaker from the table and moving them in front of herself for props. She started with the salt and pepper shaker. "Okay, Salt and Pepper goes to a bar. Someone tries to shoot Salt, but Pepper gets in the way and BAM!" Lucy knocked over the pepper shaker, spilling some pepper on the table.

"Lena!" Kara yelled out, stretching dramatically.

Lucy picked up the pepper shaker, moving it to the side with the salt nearby. "Pepper goes to the hospital. Salt goes nuts." With salt shaker in hand, Lucy started knocking over empty beer bottles. "Justice!"

"Justice!" Kara called out, face down on her end of the table again.

"Where are we in all of this?" Maggie asked Alex.

Knocking back a shot, Alex shook her head. "We're not appearing in this scene. We're swirling around in a margarita pitcher right now."

"Right. Fun times."

"Then…" Lucy nodded at J'onn. "Do it."

"I don't want to do it."

"Do it," She repeated.

"I don't want to do it."

"It's an order."

"My job requirements—"

"It falls under 'other duties' so do it," she said once again.

Mouth a tight line, he said, "I will outlive you."

"True, but while I'm alive I'll have this memory," she smirked.

With a sigh, J'onn finished his drink and danced the empty across the table to the salt saying, "Just sit right back—"

"Sing it. You need to sing it," Lucy said.

Shooting Lucy the stink eye, J'onn said, "She'll recognize it if I just speak it in tempo."

"Nope, she wants to hear you sing it, don't you Maggie?" Lucy smiled over at the detective.

"Yes, I don't know what this is, but yes," Maggie earnestly agreed, her dimples in full effect.

From where she was lying head and shoulders on the table again, Kara lifted her hand and announced, "I helped write it!"

"I hate you all," J'onn mumbled before clearing his throat and breaking into song:

"Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,

Of a hero who lost her grip,

That started in our fine city,

And ended with a ship.

Her sister is a kick-ass scientist,

Their Spacedad brave and proud,

Two girls went out clubbing that night,

For Drinks at The Out Crowd."

"Drinks at The Out Crowd," Kara repeated.

"The music started getting loud,

Shots fired by a lout,

If not for the courage of Lena Luthor ,

Her secret would be out."

"My secret would be out," Kara sang.

"The ship got flipped by an angry Super, her crush a little gay,

With Spacedad,

Alexandra too,

The billionaire and her crush,

The photographer,

The detective and nerd tech too,

Here at National City.

So this is the tale of the superfriends,

Who get along crazily,

Some who work for the DEO,

Top secret agency.

The detective and the scientist,

Both did their very best,

To get the hero calmed back down,

When she got overly stressed.

No threats, no fights, no violence,

Not a piece of Kryptonite,

Just sisterly love and caring,

Brought Kara back to the light.

So join us at the alien bar,

'Cause Lucy thinks she's witty,

When she is drinking Sunset Rum,

Here at National City."

When J'onn stop singing, Maggie spoke a bit breathlessly. "Oh. My. God. That was the greatest thing I've actually ever witnessed live and in person. Was that to the tune of Gilligan's Isle?"

Lucy nodded proudly.

"Did you record all of that?" J'onn asked.

Holding her phone in front of her, Maggie shook her head. "No, I missed the beginning. Start over again?"

"You know, I've killed people for less," J'onn threatened.

"Don't worry. He'll be doing it again for the DEO Holiday party. Don't piss me off and you're invited, Dimples." Lucy winked. "Interesting fact, did you know that you can sing any of Emily Dickinson's poems to Puff the Magic Dragon?"

"Uh…I did not know that." Maggie shrugged turning to Alex.

"And…Hey! Look at me, Dimples. Since Puff the Magic Dragon and Gilligan's Isle scan the same, you can sing any of Emily Dickinson's Songs to Gilligan's Isle." Lucy did another shot.

"O-kay." Whispering to Alex, Maggie asked, "Is she always like this, or is she drunk?"

"Oh, she's shit faced. We've been here for hours."

"Ah, gotcha. I don't know her, and she isn't slurring her words, so I didn't know if she just liked to share random facts with people or if this was the way she was when she was drunk."

Pouring a shot, Alex replied, "No, that's how Lanes are when they're drunk. They're hyper-aggressive, hyper-focused, and kind of hyper-sober, you know?"

"Hyper-sober? What does that mean?"

"If you used a breathalyzer, I bet she'd blow a .22 maybe a .25, but if you gave her a field sobriety test she'd pass because she's a Lane. The Lanes are scary."

"Wait." Maggie held up a finger. "Lane as in Lois Lane?"

"I'm the little sister in every sense of the word as Lois likes to remind me," Lucy said, staring at the shot in her hand.

"Uh-oh." Alex cleared her throat. "Hey Luce, you weren't done explain what's going on to Maggie. I think she still needs that explanation."

At a less than gentle kick under the table, Maggie startled but said, "Yeah! I'm still lost. Help a sister out?"

"Sure. Of course." Lucy knocked back her shot and nodded. "Where was I?"

"Salt took Pepper to the hospital. Salt went a little nuts, but was apparently saved through love and possibly a musical…which knowing Salt the way I do probably would have done it. She does love a good musical number," Maggie admitted.

"I really do," Kara mumbled.

Lucy nodded in agreement and turned to the bar. "M'gann, we need another selection of shots!"

"This story requires more alcohol?" Maggie asked.

"This entire night requires more alcohol," Alex said pouring herself another shot.

"Hey, you okay babe? You seem really out of sorts."

"I…" Alex sighed. "I'll let Luce get through her carefully created tale with alcohol and condiments. Then, if you still have questions, I'll fill in the blanks. It's been a tough few weeks, and today has been the cherry on top of the shit cake."

"Wow." Squeezing Alex's forearm, Maggie said, "I'm here for you, all right? Anything you need, you got me, babe."

"Thanks." Dropping her head on her girlfriend's shoulder, a bit more tension left Alex's body. "You've made such a change in my life. I've never had someone in my life like this before, someone I could trust completely and count on that wasn't family or work family. It means the world knowing I don't have to question this relationship right now. Thanks for just being you. You have no idea what that means right now."

Maggie just nodded, sliding an arm around Alex and holding her until the alcohol arrived.

"Same selection as before," M'gann said. She looked behind her. "The bar's covered right now, so I'm staying for the story. Did I miss the singing?"

"Et tu, M'gann?" J'onn asked.

"We'll make him do it again later," Lucy assured the other Martian while she placed the selection of shots on the table. "Who doesn't love an encore? Okay, so the Paleta and the Atomic Fireball are at home when Salt gets bad news about Pepper."

"Oh, I love a shot of paleta!" Maggie said. "Nice choice for me. That's me, right?"

"Don't interrupt, Dimples. I can still revoke your invitation to the DEO Holiday party. So, Paleta and Atomic Fireball finds out from Salt that Pepper won't walk again. They calm Salt down. Later though, Pepper disappears with these three Code Blues." Lucy surrounded the pepper shaker with three blue shots. "Salt catches up to them back at the hospital, and everything seems fine. Later, though, Salt and Pepper are chilling." She moves the blue shots away. "Pepper nearly dies again." Lucy knocks over the pepper shaker and surrounds it with the blue shots again, ignoring Kara's whimpers from the other side of J'onn. "Salt calls Atomic Fireball, and she and Paleta show up. Eventually one of the Code Blues talks to Atomic Fireball."

Maggie whispered to Alex, "This is both entertaining with shots and a bit concerning in its accuracy. Who filled her in?"

"Mainly drunk Kara. Drunk Kara likes to share especially about her gay crush. It's pretty gross."

"Been there."

"Thanksgiving," Was all Alex said.

"…so Atomic Fireball gets suspicious that Pepper is awake and decides to use DEO resources to pull Pepper's medical records."

"Oh, that is a lot of sharing," Maggie said.

"That wasn't Kara." Alex sighed. "Wait until the end of the story. The sharing gets worse."

"Medical records showed Pepper would never walk again which gets very suspicious when Pepper gets feeling and movement back in her legs. Then Pepper gets flowers from Alligator Sp3rm and—"

"Wait, wait, stop the story!" Maggie leaned forward. "What is in the nasty looking shot?"

"Alligator Sp3rm?" M'gann asked.

"I'm not saying the name, but yes…that." Maggie's finger hovered inches away from the shot. It was light green to yellow with something white and thick swirling in it and laying across the top.

"It's equal parts melon liqueur and pineapple juice with cream on top," M'gann explained.

"Does it taste as nasty as it looks?" The detective asked.

"Definitely. Newest at the table gets to drink it. Now, stop interrupting me, Dimples. Okay, so while Paleta is at the hospital because of the flowers, Salt shows up, and she and Pepper make up. They'd been fighting for some reason. It was gay girl shit I think. Anyway, Paleta and Salt end up following some lead from the flowers. Salt isn't a good team player, and she gets a pager that ends up being a trap from Alligator Sp3rm. This ends up with Salt having to fly all over the table. Whoosh!" Lucy picked up the salt shaker and waved it all over the table. "First she has to save Hot Damn from the Assassin." Lucy swooped the salt shaker down between a metal shot glass and one of five identical shot glasses filled with red contents. She slid the red drink in front of J'onn. "Drink it." The Martian knocked it back, only making a slight face at the flavor. "Next she has to save Cardassian Cooler. Drink this." She pushed over the next red shot to J'onn.

"Those were James and Winn?" Maggie asked quietly.

Alex nodded.

Continuing her story, Lucy said, "Whoosh! Then it's Atomic Fireball! Drink. Whoosh! Paleta! Drink. Oh no, that took too much time!" The salt shaker in Lucy's hand hovered inches away from the pepper shaker. "She doesn't make it to Pepper in time!"

"It's like I'm living it all over again." Kara cried from the table, then hurled herself into J'onn.

"It's okay." He patted her on the back while she cried onto his shirt.

"She really hasn't had that much?" Maggie asked.

"Four shots," Alex replied, "but she was intermittently laughing and crying after two. She's a light weight."

"Maybe, but if we drank what she drinks, we'd be dead."

"True," Alex agreed.

Lucy was still telling her tale. "Luckily, one of the Code Blues was there to save Pepper. Here, drink this last one."

"And how is J'onn not…? Right, he's a Martian. Never mind," Maggie said.

"She's all right." Kara draped herself across the table again.

"So, all of the Alcoholfriends get together. There's some disagreement, mainly between Atomic Fireball and Pepper, surprise, surprise, but that gets settled down. Alligator Sp3rm calls again, and there's some secret tech stuff that Pepper does so every can hear it. I assume it's being recorded. Everyone agrees to work together even though there are still some hard feelings. Pepper starts to get much better, even walking again. Then…give me the sugar packets, Kara."

Without lifting her head from the table, Kara grabbed a handful of sugar packets and tossed them along the length of the table.

"Smooth, thanks," Lucy said gathering them up.

"No problem," Kara replied waving vaguely in Lucy's direction.

"Then Tot of Brandy start getting all this paperwork from an unknown source."

"Tot." Maggie snorted.

"Hey! You're my height, Dimples, don't laugh." Lucy's finger hung in the air, and obviously threatening.

"Careful, she'll kick your ass," Alex warned.

Maggie nodded, finishing off her beer. "I might like that."

"You might," Alex agreed. "This is why it was better when you two hadn't met."

"So, Tot of Brandy took the paperwork higher and higher up the ladder until she finally reached Absolut Bitch who was able to help." Lucy dropped the pile of sugar packets by another shot.

"Who's that?" Maggie whispered.

"Olivia Marsdin," Alex replied.

"Same name as the president?"

"Because she's the president."

"…did not see that coming. I'm going to need more to drink," Maggie said.

Alex pushed her more than half-empty bottle to the right toward her girlfriend.

"After lots of brilliant political maneuvering, and some begging on the part of Tot of Brandy, she is able to get some of the paperwork tossed." Lucy started tossing sugar packets to her right, down to the other end of the table.

As packets of sugar rained down on her, several striking her face, Kara opened her eyes looking up. She lifted a sugar packet that was lying on her cheek, then looked up at the ceiling.

"Finally, we are left with," Laying out a sugar packet with each item, Lucy counted off the documents Alex had to sign. "Agreement she worked alone. Agreement the DEO, as an entity, was unaware of her actions in pulling the medical records of Lena Luthor without a warrant. Agreement that Lena Luthor was unaware that her medical records were being pulled. Finally, a three-month suspension from the DEO with no pay. There was no charge of treason if an investigation of Lena Luthor took place in the future for other reasons."

Turning to her girlfriend, eyes wide, Maggie asked, "You're suspended?"

"This isn't exactly a celebratory outing," Alex replied, raising her drink. "Lucy's buying since I won't be drawing a salary for a few months."

"The DEO's buying. This is a team building exercise," Lucy corrected Alex. "Plus were preparing for the Holiday party, right J'onn?"

"I hate you all," he replied.

"Hey, suspended is a big deal, babe. What can we do? Can we fight this?" Maggie asked.

"It's done, Mags. Lucy fought it for a week and got me the best deal she could. They wanted me to resign. They wanted a charge of treason hanging over my head if I ever looked into Lena or her medical staff again, probably if I ever looked in her direction again."

"Lena wouldn't treason you," Kara said sitting up.

"Kara, for the hundredth time, it wasn't Lena." Alex ran her hand through her hair. "Whoever did this was targeting her too."

"Who did it?" Maggie asked.

Alex gestured to Lucy.

"We don't know," Lucy said. "It was someone with enough clout to give the DEO a migraine and force J'onn and me to call in favors back to grade school. It was some major government agency."

"But not Lena," Kara said pushing up from her seat and crawling onto the table.

"Kara! What the fuck are you doing?" Alex asked, grabbing her bottle from the table.

"Gotta tinkle."

"Alcohol, save the alcohol!" Alex ordered, pulling a shot to safety.

Grabbing the shot of paleta, Maggie downed it. "Got me!"

The group hurried to move shots out of the path of the crawling Kryptonian. When Kara reached the edge of the table, she simply tipped off and fell to the ground with a heavy thud.

"Kara?" Lucy stared down at the blonde.

Pushing to her feet, Kara smiled, "Forgot to fly."

"You okay, Little Danvers?"

"Pfft, yah. Invulnerable. You should be asking the floor that." She wandered toward the bathroom waving a hand in front of her. "Look out, gotta powder my nose." People gave her a wide berth.

"She going to be okay?" Maggie asked watching behind them.

"Everything will be fine so long as she ends up in the right restroom. Last time she got drunk she went to the men's room. Then she assaulted some poor guy who had to take a piss because she thought he was in the woman's room. Winn had to go rescue him. Then she yelled at Winn for being in the woman's room."

Maggie laughed. "That sounds funny as fuck."

"Sure, if you're not that guy who just needed to take a leak," Alex said.

As Lucy bumped into her, urging her into Alex, Maggie startled. "Hello."

"Slide over. Alex, slide over. Your girl and I have to have a talk while your sister is gone."

J'onn patted the empty seat. "Care to join us for a bit longer? This could be entertaining too."

M'gann checker the bar again. "Looks like I have time." She sat next to J'onn. "Which human ritual will we now be observing?"

"I believe it is called 'The Shovel Talk.'"

"Ah." M'gann nodded.

Sitting next to Maggie, Lucy leaned in close. "You're dating my best friend."

"Um, okay. Yeah, Alex is awesome."

"Fuck right she is! What are your intentions, Dimples?"

"My…intentions? Are you serious?" Looking at Alex, Maggie repeated, "Is she serious?"

"Usually." Alex shrugged. "Just answer her before she pulls you into an interrogation."

"Heh, heh." The smile fell off of Maggie's face. "Oh, you're serious."

"Also usually. You know, what are your intentions? We've been dating for a while, now. Where is this going?"

"Going? Where? Us?" Maggie looked back and forth between the two women, swallowing hard before her gaze met the Martian's across the table. "J'onn, help me."

With a smile, J'onn began to sing. "Just sit right back, and we'll hear a tale.

A detective in quite a jam,

Started in the alien bar,

Led to her up on the lamb."

Sliding down into the booth, Maggie said, "Oh, payback's a bitch, huh?"

Grabbing the Absolut Bitch shot from the table, J'onn knocked it back. "Apparently so am I."

In the rest room, Kara was just drying her hands when something buzzed. She patted at her side, trying to figure out why she was vibrating until she came away with a pager. She stared at it for several seconds, looking at the fuzzy numbers. Pulling out her phone, Kara carefully called the number.

"Hello, Kara." Lillian's voice was its usual mixture of self-satisfaction and annoyance that only she seemed to be able to hold in perfect balance. "So, tomorrow I want—"

"Lillian." Kara's voice was heavy with alcohol. "You're crocodile sperm."

There was a deep inhalation of breath across the line. "What did you just call me!?"

"No that's not right," Kara muttered. She tapped a finger into her forehead several times. "You're alligator sperm." Kara smiled proudly.

After a few moments of obviously stunned silence, Lillian asked, "Kara, are you drunk?"

"Pfft. No, you're the one who's drink."

"Drunk."

"That's what I said. Don't correct me. That's a bad…It's rude. You taught Lena a rude thing, and she's like perfect except for you stuff."

"Oh, she's perfect, is she?"

Kara smiled and nodded alone in the bathroom.

"Is Lena there with you?"

Kara sighed. "No, and I miss her. Lillian, did you ever have someone that you missed so much that when you weren't with them, all you wanted to do was be with them again? Did you feel that way about Lionel?"

"No."

"Hmmm. Maybe that's why you're so mean. You're like a ala-crocomagator. Like, a head at both ends and super mean 'cause you can't…poop." Laughing, Kara slid down the wall until she was staring at the ceiling. "Oh, I'm on the floor."

"You're not going to remember this conversation in the morning, are you?"

"Uh, 'course I am. I'm not drink."

"Drunk."

"Ugh. So rude."

"Do you even get hangovers?" Lillian asked.

"No. Only drink people get hangovers."

"Good night, Supergirl. Keep an eye on my daughter. I still have use of her."

"What does that mean? Lillian? Lillian?" Looking at her phone, Kara eventually focused on the screen, seeing the line was disconnected. "Ugh, rude!" Kara struggled to her feet, shoving the pager and phone back into place as she stumbled into the main part of the bar. She saw her sister leaning next to the booth, Lucy standing across from the redhead. "Alex! Guess who was rude to me!?"

As Kara lurched into her from behind, Alex jostled forward, her phone flying out of her hands. "Holy fuck! Kara!"

"Got it," Lucy said, catching the phone mid-air left-handed.

"Damn, nice hands. Are you even left-handed?" Maggie asked.

Lucy just winked in response.

Maggie shook her head. "Hyper-sober."

"Jesus, Kara, you weigh like 300 pounds when you're drunk. A little help here?"

"I gotcha." Maggie slid an arm under one shoulder while Alex got under the Kryptonian's other side. "Holy…You weren't kidding. How is she so heavy?"

"It's her DNA. The real question is, how can she feel this heavy and fly?" Alex asked.

"Guys, guys, listen. Lillian is a ala-crocomagator. No pooping." Kara starting laughing again, all her weight leaning on the other two women.

"Oh, God, she's getting heavier. Help!" Alex said.

"I've got her." M'gann stepped in, casually scooped Kara up and tossing the Kryptonian over a shoulder. "Come on, Kara, let's go lie you down in the back until it's time to go home. You can tell me all about ala-crocomagators. They sound fierce."

"Rawrr!" Kara said as the Martian walked away with her.

Scrolling through a series of text messages on Alex's phone, Lucy asked, "Does this Lena Luthor not know how to text? I've read legal briefings with less cumbersome language than this."

"She's a Luthor," Alex said by way of explanation. "She's a seriously up tight bitch."

Sliding into the booth again, Maggie sipped her beer. "She's not that bad."

"Don't defend her," Alex said.

"Don't attack her."

"I'm not fighting with you tonight. I'm in a lousy mood. Don't add to it."

"Sorry, babe. What do you need?" Maggie asked.

"A job," Alex said. "Tomorrow I'm going to look for one. Well, maybe the day after. Tomorrow I'm going to be hungover and feel badly for myself."

"Actually…" Lucy looked up from Alex's phone. "How much do you hate this Lena Luthor?"

"I don't hate her," Alex said. "I don't trust her, and I don't like the way she treated Kara, but I don't hate her. I just think someone should keep an eye on her especially around my little sister who has a serious crush on her."

"Like someone who works for Lena?" Lucy asked, holding Alex's phone out to the redhead and wiggling it.

"What does that mean?" Alex asked, taking her phone and staring at the screen. She read the last text, scrolling back up and read a few before it slowly reading her way back down. "Holy fuck. Lena just offered me a job. How did she even know I needed one?"

"Now that's the sixty-four million dollar question," Lucy said. "Well, it's not that much, but it's a lot more a month than you were getting paid. If you take this, you sure you're coming back to the DEO?"

 **Act V Opening Gambit – Pawn Takes Rook**

Ahmed Samarran, the White King, sat at his desk typing up a memo. His office was spacious, a broad, dark wooden table surrounded by wood walls. Several thin, light wooden pillars sat through the exterior of the room. A white fireplace façade was set into one wall. Glass sconces were just above head height all throughout the room, and a tan and dark-blue carpet sat on the white tile floor.

At a knock on the door, he didn't look up, just said, "Enter."

Graziella Rea, his knight, entered the room with several files in hand. The redhead closed the door and stopped by Ahmed's desk, waiting for him to finish his typing and look up. "The files you asked, for, Ahmed."

"Ah, the prospects. You gathered the information quickly, Graziella."

"Grace and Valentia deserve more credit than I do, especially Grace. Information is definitely her forte," the redhead replied.

"That's why she's a rook," Ahmed said, flipping over the first file. He only made it a few pages in, shaking his head. "Didn't think so, but it was worth investigating."

"His ties to Superman made him unsuitable, as we thought. Nothing we found leads us to believe otherwise," Graziella agreed, taking the file back.

As he flipped through another file, Ahmed raised his eye brows. "Hmmm. Oh. Did we know about this…history? This is history indeed. This all started in Metropolis."

"We did not. Well, **we** did not. I am certain that Oskana did. Is it of concern?"

"Concern no. Interest?" Ahmed met the redhead's eyes, smiling as he handed back the file. "Also unsuitable. Do you think the girlfriend knows?"

"Do we care?"

He shrugged, going onto the next file but pointing at the one the woman had just taken back. "Keep that one under possible recruits. Not for this, of course, but still I'm interested for possible future endeavors, all right?"

"Of course."

He flipped through another file. "This one reads like another Lena Luthor, but without the bank account or education. His current job is a front. Where is he actually working?"

"We're not sure."

Eyebrows raised, he stared up at her from his seat.

"It's classified, and we'd need cause to crack it open. We don't have cause."

He handed her back the file. "Well, keep him around. Now I find him very interesting."

"Not for this, of course."

"No, no, no." He opened another file, reading through it. "We need someone close to the subject, perhaps who's fallen on tough times or is in a desperate situation, but still someone of…good…moral standing. Perhaps someone with an ex-wife." He flipped the page. "Someone with next to no money in the bank." He flipped the page again. "Ugh, ulcer and cholesterol issues, well, we'll work on that." He flipped to the front of the file, turning to a picture and flipped that open, facing it toward the redhead. "What do you think of him?"

Staring at a picture of Snapper Carr, Graziella replied, "He's gruesome."

"He's perfect. I want him."

"Of course you do," she sighed.

"He sees her regularly?"

Head bouncing side to side, she finally nodded. "He's her editor. He sees her every work day, but I don't think he's very fond—"

"Perfect!" Snapping the file closed, Ahmed tossed it at her, forcing her to catch it between her free hand and her pile of folders. "Get him for me. In a month's time, I want him to be my next White Pawn."

"Ugh. Yes, my king. Of course, my king," she said with obvious sarcasm, bowing.

"Oh, stop it. Where are you going? Stay and get lunch with me?"

"I can't," she replied, hand on the doorknob. "My egocentric boss is sending me back to North America to recruit some obnoxious blowhard that's one enchilada away from a stroke. Wish me luck in not killing him."

"Graziella, we don't kill innocents," he scolded. "We try not to kill anyone."

She stared at him for several moments, then deflated. "Fine, but I'm going to recruit him with lots of fatty cheese. Cholesterol is an act of God." As she left the office, his laughter followed after her.

 _Well, if you made it this far, that was around 200k words all told, folks. Internet high fives all around. It's been a pleasure getting to know all of you across the miles. Thanks for reading book one of "Next of Kin- Checkmate." Seeing Lena holding those chess pieces after Kara left her on that couch actually set me down this thought, but I just needed an outlet for it. Fanfic was it. Thanks for sharing this with me. I have some more stuff to write, but we'll be back for the sequel in a while. I hope to have you all join me again. Feel free to message me any time. I'm always happy to chat writing. It's kind of my thing. – D.K.G._

In case you're curious as to the members of Checkmate, copy and paste into a url and you'll see some names you know:

wiki/List_Checkmate_members


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